Research Seminar on 28 February: “Regional Councils and the Structure of Regional Elites, 1999-2010”

The Political Sphere research seminar serves as a space for professional communication and exchange of ideas in the study of politics, as well as for improving methodology and strategies for analyzing political processes.

The seminar hosts presentations of current results of political, social, and economic research.

Work plan of the Political Sphere research seminar for the first half of 2013 (https://palityka.org/2013/01/plan-pracy-seminara/)
The next research seminar of the Political Sphere Institute will take place on 28 February.

Director of the Political Sphere Institute Andrei Kazakevich and institute researcher Vadzim Smok will present the results of a study of regional councils for 1999-2010.

Compared with other countries in the region, Belarus has extremely weak institutions of local self-government, but this does not remove the need to understand the structure of local elites and to determine the actual political role of representative bodies of power.

An analysis of the composition of regional councils over the past twelve years shows three clear trends:
“Oligarchization”: the absolute dominance of directors and managers at various levels
“Centralization”: the very strong positions and role of representatives of the regional center
Significant changes in the age structure: the increasing role of persons around the age of 50
In Soviet times, representation in regional councils was formal; the composition itself was determined artificially and very much resembled the structure of society, with representation of workers, peasants, youth, and so on.

Contemporary regional councils are entirely different, and a careful analysis of their composition makes it possible, at least to a significant extent, to view them as a reflection of the structure of regional elites.

At the same time, the councils themselves appear to be an important platform for communication, information exchange, and lobbying at the regional level.

But how justified is this, and if it is justified, to what degree?

It is precisely these, as well as several other issues, that are to be considered during the seminar on the basis of a detailed analysis of representation in regional councils over the past twelve years.