ISSN 0868-4871
En Ru
ISSN 0868-4871
“To Behave Better”: Business and Power in Contemporary Russia

“To Behave Better”: Business and Power in Contemporary Russia

Abstract

The article analyses the much-discussed idea over the past few years of “de-oligarchization” of Russian politics and economy. Starting from the analysis of how the concepts of “oligarch” and “equidistance [of the oligarchs] from power” are articulated in the Russian public sphere, the article investigates what institutional or rhetorical changes affected the transformation of the public opinion when comparing the perception of politics in the 1990s with the following period of time. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the socio-economic transformation that have taken place within Russia and the concurrent discursive shift, including the notion of “rethinking” the Russian political reality, repeatedly stressed by various speakers. The article argues that the methodologically effective neo-corporatist paradigm of interaction between government and business remains a relevant analytical framework to investigate and describe contemporary relations between public authorities and powerful businessmen.

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Keywords: neo-corporatism; Russian politics; oligarchs; public policy; business; power

Available in the on-line version with: 06.09.2021

To cite this article
Number 4, 2021