Rola tejpów (klanów) w działalności elit politycznych

Abstract

The authors have made an attempt to disclose and explain hidden yet extremely important conditions and factors implying processes of emergence and functioning of the power elite. On the basis of available data, they try to explain the clan mechanisms of polics in the North Caucasus and their role in the recruitment and circulation of political elites in the national republics . The study shows that the clans are a permanent and important component of the social and political divisions in the region which actively participates in the game of power, influence, and distribution of goods in the republics. They are thus one of the fundamental informal institutions which underlie the proces of shaping political, economic or cultural elites. Ethnic particularism, korporativism, clientelism and ethnocracy are inherent for their operation. They also preserve traditionalism, eliminate the transparency of political rivalry, deform healthy rules of the market competition, foster a sense of alienation and exclusion. They are therefore an institution which is a barrier for democratization of social life and development of civil society. In the opinion of the authors, the best method to combat the ethno-clanishness and pathologies related to it, is the democratization of social life and creating conditions for the development of civil society in the region.