colloquium lecture
18:15 pm, IW3 0330 / hybrid
Introduction for students.
Muriel Nägler (FSO)
colloquium lecture
18:15 pm, IW3 0330 / hybrid
Introduction for students.
Muriel Nägler (FSO)
Legitimization Strategies of Ukrainian Oligarchs
PhD-Project of Steffen Halling, Duration: since 2015, Supervisior: Prof. Heiko PleinesOligarchs, i.e. wealthy entrepreneurs who use their financial resources to influence politics, are a central feature of the political regime of Ukraine. So far, the academic literature primarily concentrated on the impact of oligarchs on the political regime. The most wide-spread approaches in this context focus on rent-seeking activities by oligarchs as they are highlighted in Hellman’s prominent state-capture concept as well as on different kinds of manipulations of the formal political regime, in particular, stressed by Levitsky and Way in their concept of competitive authoritarian regimes. Also, the role of oligarchs in informal networks and patronal politics, in particular, have attracted wide academic attention.
Meanwhile, effects of political regime dynamics—in particular attempts of democratization—on the oligarchs’ strategic behavior have been largely unattended in the literature yet. This concerns, in particular, the issue of a distinct lack of legitimacy which the oligarchs and their properties, i.e. their key power resources, face publicly.
Based on Winters’ concept of “wealth defense” as well as the works of Denisova et al., Frye and Markus it is argued that the properties of the oligarchs are highly dependent on the political climate. However, oligarchs have the capacity to react to certain threats and, hence, influence the legitimacy of their properties. Taking these assumptions into account, this research project poses the following exploratory research question: Which strategies Ukrainian oligarchs pursue in order to legitimize their properties? Towards whom are these strategies pursued by Ukrainian oligarchs? How can different legitimization strategies among Ukrainian oligarchs be explained? To what extent are legitimization strategies of Ukrainian oligarchs successful?
In accordance with the analytical framework, the investigation focuses on oligarchs during democratization periods and, thus, on increased public and political pressure towards them. Both emerged after the so-called Orange Revolution (2004/2005) and the Revolution of Dignity (2014). In this context, the legitimization strategies of four oligarchs will be analyzed by focusing on three components: 1) the oligarchs’ public self-presentation; 2) the oligarchs’ media influence; and 3) the oligarchs’ sponsorship and charity activities. The research follows the methodological path of a case study, relying on different data sources and multi-level data collection and analyzing methods.