Popular science material by Oleksandr Rakhmanov, Doctor of Sociological Sciences: “The birth, flourishing and decline of oligarchy in Ukraine: a sociologist's view”

The website of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine has published a popular science material by Oleksandr Rakhmanov, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, "The birth, flourishing and decline of oligarchy in Ukraine: a sociologist's view"

The post-communist transformations in Ukraine led to the class of large property owners acquiring excessive political agency. A full-scale oligarchisation of political power took place, in which a small circle of oligarchs managed to take control of all branches of state power. Oligarchisation, moreover, permeated not only the central branches of power but also showed itself at the local level.

Oligarchy is traditionally defined as a system of control by a few social actors in the political sphere. The oligarchisation of political power may accordingly be defined as an illegitimate process of state capture by a limited circle of social actors possessing extensive material and financial resources.

It should be said at the outset that oligarchs and owners of large capital are similar but not identical notions. Not all large owners are oligarchs, but all oligarchs are large owners.

The full material is here