Militaryzacja elity władzy centralnej podczas prezydentury Władimira Putina - interpretacja alternatywna
The militarisation of the political elite in Russia during the Putin presidency; an alternative interpretation

Summary/Abstract: When Vladimir Putin handed over presidential authority in the spring of 2008, then, for the first time since the era of pierestrojka, there was no manifestation of a battle for power among Russia’s elite. Numerous scholars, such as Olga Krysztanowska and Stephen White, explain this particular process as the militarisation of the elite, which occurred hand in hand with Vladimir Putin's presidency. The article aims at the partial denying of that thesis and at suggesting an alternative interpretation of the processes occurring at the top of Russian power structure. The author demonstrates that the dominance of people with a background in the security services of the elite central authorities, the most important circle of the elite, had already occurred during Boris Jeltsin's presidency, while the casting of the most critical positions under Putin's presidency was primarily decided by factors of loyalty on the part of the elite toward their head of state, rather than their powerful support mechanisms within the structures of the security services. By the same token, at the start of 2008, it was not in the least the 'force structures’ which played this crucial role, but the ministers and the higher echelons of public administration.

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