Sharon Werning Rivera
Biographic Data
| ID | 4123833 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sharon Werning Rivera |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sharon Werning |
| FAMILY NAME | Rivera |
| SIGNATURE | RIVERA S W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hamilton College |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1092-8665 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 129 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Russia’s Descent into Authoritarianism: Are the Siloviki to Blame?
Are the underlying sources of Russia’s descent into full-blown authoritarian rule since 2012 to be found in Vladimir Putin’s professional socialization in the KGB and staffing of the state with former military and security officers—the siloviki —as has been widely claimed? The answer depends on whether siloviki actually possess a distinctly illiberal worldview that sets them apart from other members of the ruling elite. In this article, we update…
Are Siloviki Still Undemocratic? Elite Support for Political Pluralism during Putin’s Third Presidential Term
Will Vladimir Putin’s penchant for staffing the state with siloviki undermine the prospects for democratization after he leaves office? The answer to this question hinges on whether Russian military and security officers currently possess a less liberal worldview than do civilian elites, yet little to no research has examined this question in close to a decade. In an effort to fill this gap in existing knowledge, this article investigates the ori…
Understanding the sources of anti-Americanism in the Russian elite
This paper applies the model of opinion formation developed by John Zaller to the study of anti-American attitudes in the Russian elite. It examines the relative weight of political predispositions (interests, values, and experiences) versus immediately accessible “considerations” that depend on the flow of information in elite discourse. Based on survey data from 1995–2016, we find that two key political predispositions (identification as a West…
Introduction: New directions in survey research on Russian elites
Although a vibrant literature on mass public opinion in Russia emerged in the wake of communism’s collapse in the USSR, the systematic investigation of elite attitudes using survey research has lag
The Militarization of the Russian Elite under Putin: What We Know, What We Think We Know (but Don’t), and What We Need to Know
This article reviews the vast literature on Russia’s transformation into a “militocracy”—a state in which individuals with career experience in Russia’s various force structures occupy important positions throughout the polity and economy—during the reign of former KGB lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin. We show that (1) elite militarization has been extensively utilized both to describe and explain core features of Russian foreign and domestic po…
Is Russia a militocracy? Conceptual issues and extant findings regarding elite militarization
The dominant paradigm for understanding contemporary Russia holds that Vladimir Putin's tenure in office has been accompanied by a massive influx of former KGB and military personnel – so-called “siloviki” – into positions of power and authority throughout the polity and economy. Claims of extensive elite militarization, however, are largely based on the analyses of only one research program and, moreover, the validity of the estimates produced b…
Yeltsin, Putin, and Clinton: Presidential Leadership and Russian Democratization in Comparative Perspective
Immediately after coming to power, the Clinton administration declared the consolidation of market and democratic institutions in Russia to be a vital American interest. The administration's central tactic for promoting this outcome was to help Boris Yeltsin remain in power. In a major assault on Clinton's historical legacy, much of the scholarly community maintains that U.S. policy was fundamentally flawed, both morally and strategically. In the…
The Russian Elite under Putin: Militocratic or Bourgeois
Since Vladimir Putin took over the presidency, analysts have highlighted the large numbers of siloviki—those with experience in the military and security agencies—who have been recruited into government service. Two political scientists investigate this trend by reexamining previously published findings and using an original data set. Claims of the "FSB-ization of power" under Putin and an underappreciated trend in elite formation under Putin—the…
Elites and the Diffusion of Foreign Models in Russia
Globalization has sparked renewed interest in the diffusion of ideas and norms across boundaries. Although much work has focused on diffusion at the macro-level and on the groups that transmit ideas, few researchers have studied the cognitive processes of political elites as they weigh the merits of various foreign-inspired models. Drawing on a series of original, in-depth interviews with Russian parliamentarians and high-ranking bureaucrats cond…
Interviewing Political Elites: Lessons from Russia
The past decade has opened up unprecedented opportunities for scholars of post-communist countries. Throughout much of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, scholars can now engage policymakers and other elites directly through interviews—probing their decision calculi and obtaining unpublished information and data. Yet there are gaps in the scholarly literature that would prepare researchers for interviewing highly placed individuals in th…
Elites in Post-communist Russia: A Changing of the Guard
Historical Cleavages or Transition Mode: Influences on the Emerging Party Systems in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia
This article tests two propositions derived from European transitions to democracy on three countries in East Central Europe: Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On balance, the paper finds that new party systems seem to be developing differently in postcommunist regimes than they did in Southern and Western Europe. First, the political cleavages of the pre-authoritarian period that might have re-emerged after an interruption in democratic rule d…
Historical Cleavages or Transition Mode: Influences on the Emerging Party Systems in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia
This article tests two propositions derived from European transitions to democracy on three countries in East Central Europe: Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On balance, the paper finds that new party systems seem to be developing differently in postcommunist regimes than they did in Southern and Western Europe. First, the political cleavages of the pre-authoritarian period that might have re-emerged after an interruption in democratic rule d…
The Russian Elite under Putin: Militocratic or Bourgeois
Since Vladimir Putin took over the presidency, analysts have highlighted the large numbers of siloviki—those with experience in the military and security agencies—who have been recruited into government service. Two political scientists investigate this trend by reexamining previously published findings and using an original data set. Claims of the "FSB-ization of power" under Putin and an underappreciated trend in elite formation under Putin—the…
Interviewing Political Elites: Lessons from Russia
The past decade has opened up unprecedented opportunities for scholars of post-communist countries. Throughout much of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, scholars can now engage policymakers and other elites directly through interviews—probing their decision calculi and obtaining unpublished information and data. Yet there are gaps in the scholarly literature that would prepare researchers for interviewing highly placed individuals in th…
Is Russia a militocracy? Conceptual issues and extant findings regarding elite militarization
The dominant paradigm for understanding contemporary Russia holds that Vladimir Putin's tenure in office has been accompanied by a massive influx of former KGB and military personnel – so-called “siloviki” – into positions of power and authority throughout the polity and economy. Claims of extensive elite militarization, however, are largely based on the analyses of only one research program and, moreover, the validity of the estimates produced b…
Understanding the sources of anti-Americanism in the Russian elite
This paper applies the model of opinion formation developed by John Zaller to the study of anti-American attitudes in the Russian elite. It examines the relative weight of political predispositions (interests, values, and experiences) versus immediately accessible “considerations” that depend on the flow of information in elite discourse. Based on survey data from 1995–2016, we find that two key political predispositions (identification as a West…
Elites and the Diffusion of Foreign Models in Russia
Globalization has sparked renewed interest in the diffusion of ideas and norms across boundaries. Although much work has focused on diffusion at the macro-level and on the groups that transmit ideas, few researchers have studied the cognitive processes of political elites as they weigh the merits of various foreign-inspired models. Drawing on a series of original, in-depth interviews with Russian parliamentarians and high-ranking bureaucrats cond…
The Militarization of the Russian Elite under Putin: What We Know, What We Think We Know (but Don’t), and What We Need to Know
This article reviews the vast literature on Russia’s transformation into a “militocracy”—a state in which individuals with career experience in Russia’s various force structures occupy important positions throughout the polity and economy—during the reign of former KGB lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin. We show that (1) elite militarization has been extensively utilized both to describe and explain core features of Russian foreign and domestic po…
Elites in Post-communist Russia: A Changing of the Guard
Introduction: New directions in survey research on Russian elites
Although a vibrant literature on mass public opinion in Russia emerged in the wake of communism’s collapse in the USSR, the systematic investigation of elite attitudes using survey research has lag
Are Siloviki Still Undemocratic? Elite Support for Political Pluralism during Putin’s Third Presidential Term
Will Vladimir Putin’s penchant for staffing the state with siloviki undermine the prospects for democratization after he leaves office? The answer to this question hinges on whether Russian military and security officers currently possess a less liberal worldview than do civilian elites, yet little to no research has examined this question in close to a decade. In an effort to fill this gap in existing knowledge, this article investigates the ori…
Historical Cleavages or Transition Mode: Influences on the Emerging Party Systems in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia
This article tests two propositions derived from European transitions to democracy on three countries in East Central Europe: Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On balance, the paper finds that new party systems seem to be developing differently in postcommunist regimes than they did in Southern and Western Europe. First, the political cleavages of the pre-authoritarian period that might have re-emerged after an interruption in democratic rule d…
Elites in Post-communist Russia: A Changing of the Guard
Interviewing Political Elites: Lessons from Russia
The past decade has opened up unprecedented opportunities for scholars of post-communist countries. Throughout much of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, scholars can now engage policymakers and other elites directly through interviews—probing their decision calculi and obtaining unpublished information and data. Yet there are gaps in the scholarly literature that would prepare researchers for interviewing highly placed individuals in th…
Elites and the Diffusion of Foreign Models in Russia
Globalization has sparked renewed interest in the diffusion of ideas and norms across boundaries. Although much work has focused on diffusion at the macro-level and on the groups that transmit ideas, few researchers have studied the cognitive processes of political elites as they weigh the merits of various foreign-inspired models. Drawing on a series of original, in-depth interviews with Russian parliamentarians and high-ranking bureaucrats cond…
The Russian Elite under Putin: Militocratic or Bourgeois
Since Vladimir Putin took over the presidency, analysts have highlighted the large numbers of siloviki—those with experience in the military and security agencies—who have been recruited into government service. Two political scientists investigate this trend by reexamining previously published findings and using an original data set. Claims of the "FSB-ization of power" under Putin and an underappreciated trend in elite formation under Putin—the…
Yeltsin, Putin, and Clinton: Presidential Leadership and Russian Democratization in Comparative Perspective
Immediately after coming to power, the Clinton administration declared the consolidation of market and democratic institutions in Russia to be a vital American interest. The administration's central tactic for promoting this outcome was to help Boris Yeltsin remain in power. In a major assault on Clinton's historical legacy, much of the scholarly community maintains that U.S. policy was fundamentally flawed, both morally and strategically. In the…
Is Russia a militocracy? Conceptual issues and extant findings regarding elite militarization
The dominant paradigm for understanding contemporary Russia holds that Vladimir Putin's tenure in office has been accompanied by a massive influx of former KGB and military personnel – so-called “siloviki” – into positions of power and authority throughout the polity and economy. Claims of extensive elite militarization, however, are largely based on the analyses of only one research program and, moreover, the validity of the estimates produced b…
The Militarization of the Russian Elite under Putin: What We Know, What We Think We Know (but Don’t), and What We Need to Know
This article reviews the vast literature on Russia’s transformation into a “militocracy”—a state in which individuals with career experience in Russia’s various force structures occupy important positions throughout the polity and economy—during the reign of former KGB lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin. We show that (1) elite militarization has been extensively utilized both to describe and explain core features of Russian foreign and domestic po…
Are Siloviki Still Undemocratic? Elite Support for Political Pluralism during Putin’s Third Presidential Term
Will Vladimir Putin’s penchant for staffing the state with siloviki undermine the prospects for democratization after he leaves office? The answer to this question hinges on whether Russian military and security officers currently possess a less liberal worldview than do civilian elites, yet little to no research has examined this question in close to a decade. In an effort to fill this gap in existing knowledge, this article investigates the ori…
Understanding the sources of anti-Americanism in the Russian elite
This paper applies the model of opinion formation developed by John Zaller to the study of anti-American attitudes in the Russian elite. It examines the relative weight of political predispositions (interests, values, and experiences) versus immediately accessible “considerations” that depend on the flow of information in elite discourse. Based on survey data from 1995–2016, we find that two key political predispositions (identification as a West…
Introduction: New directions in survey research on Russian elites
Although a vibrant literature on mass public opinion in Russia emerged in the wake of communism’s collapse in the USSR, the systematic investigation of elite attitudes using survey research has lag
Russia’s Descent into Authoritarianism: Are the Siloviki to Blame?
Are the underlying sources of Russia’s descent into full-blown authoritarian rule since 2012 to be found in Vladimir Putin’s professional socialization in the KGB and staffing of the state with former military and security officers—the siloviki —as has been widely claimed? The answer depends on whether siloviki actually possess a distinctly illiberal worldview that sets them apart from other members of the ruling elite. In this article, we update…
Law (11 works) · Political economy (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (7 works) · Elite (6 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (5 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (5 works)