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Rohit Singh
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Thu, 23 Aug 2007

Siloviki

The Economist is running a good article on how the FSB (and its officers) are gradually taking over the Russian State and state-run industries. This is not really a surprise--- anybody who even sporadically follows the news over the past few years will have seen the Russian state re-asserting itself, especially against the oligarchs and perceived slights from the West. The article does a good job of describing who the main players are and confirms one guess I had: this is not merely one set of rich people supplanting another set (the oligarchs). The new set also derives it power from its militaristic inclinations.

Also, this passage was interesting:

"The rise to power of the KGB veterans should not have been surprising. In many ways, argues Inna Solovyova, a Russian cultural historian, it had to do with the qualities that Russians find appealing in their rulers: firmness, reserve, authority and a degree of mystery. The KGB fitted this description, or at least knew how to seem to fit it."

The notion that societies have cultural preferences for specific types of leaders certainly seems true. For example, the presence of political dynasties in Indian democracy can be traced somewhat to the influence of casteism and feudalism on Indian culture. Similarly, many of the oddities of American politics can be traced to quirks of American culture (e.g. interplay between religiosity and issues like abortion and stem-cell research).

However, this notion is also somewhat unsettling. Democracies are supposed to enable a free market of ideas, letting the best idea win. For better or for worse, voters are not rational beings--- they are influenced by their culture in picking their leaders. In particular, they may pick a leader who resonates with them culturally but has poor ideas.

Does this mean that certain societies are condemned to a generally poor choice in leaders than others? To extend the argument, are some cultures worse than others?

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