Collective portrait of the regional ruling elite (by the example of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia))

Abstract

Purpose. This article is aimed at creating a general portrait of the members of the ruling elite of the largest region by area as the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The aim of the research is to compare the collective portraits of the regional higher administrative elite under two extreme top officials (E. A. Borisov and A. S. Nikolaev), as well as to substantiate both common features and differences. Methods. To achieve this goal, the authors used a biographical method that allowed them to analyze the socio-demographic and socio-professional qualities of members of the Yakut government. The second method - comparativism - helped to identify common and special features in the portraits of representatives of the regional ruling elite during the turnover of the head of the region. Results. In the course of their work, the authors came to the following conclusions. The change of the top official has led to changes in the environment of the highest administrative elite of the region: the representation (share) of women in the Republican Executive bodies has increased, there has been a ’rejuvenation” the number of government members with humanitarian education has become dominant, and people from the cities of the region has become more significant. The collective portrait of the regional Minister looks like this: this is a middle-aged man who is a native of the region and comes from rural areas, who received higher technical (under A. Borisov) or humanitarian (under A. Nikolaev) education in Yakut universities and before being appointed to the post of Minister, working in the public or municipal administration. In addition, as an explanatory model of these changes, the narrative of the impact of the life path, work experience and individual characteristics of the heads of the region was proposed. Scientific novelty is in a systematic/integrated approach to the consideration of the regional ruling elite. Previous works were characterized by a narrow specialization, i.e. they revealed one or another aspect of the topic under consideration. In other words, this study fills the vacuum to some extent.