Post-Soviet Elite Presents Own Interests as National Interests: Zlobin in Yerevan

No South Caucasus state, renouncing the Soviet Union communist model, has created a full-fledged political system of government, said Washington resident, political analyst Nikolai Zlobin, while at a press conference in Yerevan today.

“Same thing for the elites. All the ruling elites in the post-Soviet countries are accidental. They’re temporary, transient,” he said. 

According to him, none of the post-Soviet states today have a full-fledged elite capable of expressing the state’s national interests. 

“The struggle among elites, as well as the struggle between national interests and how they are understood by these premature elites is yet another conflict,” he said.

Another problem, according to Zlobin, is that the post-Soviet elite presents their interests as national interests. In the absence of real civil society and free media, in countries where there is no possibility of forming national interests, “private interests are provided to the people,” as a result of which, according to Zlobin, a degradation of the concept of national interests occurs. 

In all post-Soviet states, including in the Caucasus, said the analyst, the shortcoming of the elites is their inability to reach compromise.

“Typically, this is “all or nothing” [approach], it’s obstinacy, resentment, anger, intimidation and threats,” he concluded.