CONSOCIATIONAL DICTATORSHIP OF IMPERIUM? NON-RUSSIAN POLITICAL

In: Nationalities papers: the journal of nationalism and ethnicity, Band 13, Heft 1, S. 45-69

Abstract

ELITES AND CENTRAL DECISION-MAKING IN THE USSR THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS TO PRESENT SOME PRELIMINARY AND NECESSARILY TENTATIVE RESULTS OF A LARGER, ONGOING AND INCOMPLETE QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF ETHNIC RECRUITMENT TO AND PARTICIPATION IN CENTRAL DECISION-MAKING INSTITUTIONS IN COMMUNIST SOCIETIES. THE TIME FRAME OF THE STUDY IS THE POST-STALIN PERIOD, MORE PRECISELY, THE 20TH THROUGH THE 25TH CPSU CONGRESSES, 1956-76. THE CONCERN OF THE LARGER STUDY IS TO DEVELOP A MODEL OF CONSOCIATIONALISM VERSUS IMPERIUM AS ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO THE GOVERNANCE OF MULTI-ETHNIC COMMUNIST SOCIETIES. CLEARLY, A COUNTRY SUCH AS YUGOSLAVIA MORE CLOSELY APPROXIMATES THE FORMER MODEL, AND THE USSR THE LATTER. THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF THIS RESEARCH IS ON ETHNIC PARTICIPATION IN THE USSR CENTRAL DECISION-MAKING BODIES, (TO THE EXTENT THAT IT WILL PROVE FEASIBLE IN TERMS OF COMPARABILITY) ON THE WORK OF OTHER SCHOLARS FOR COMPARISON WITH OTHER COMMUNIST SOCIETIES. ULTIMATELY, THE AUTHOR HOPES TO INCLUDE MIDDLE-TO UPPER-LEVEL GOVERNMENT POSTS, AS WELL AS THE MORE USUAL PARTY POSTS, ALTHOUGH CAREER DATA BECOMES INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN THE FURTHER AWAY FROM TOP CPSU FUNCTIONARIES WE GET.