Event

SIGN UP HERE

We tend to imagine dictators surrounding themselves with loyal yes-men, fearing anyone too competent might one day take their place. Yet in today’s world, many strongmen are turning to highly skilled, often Western-educated technocrats to keep their regimes afloat.

David Szakonyi is an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. His research shows that in 93% of autocracies, at least one top cabinet official has this kind of global training. In Russia, one in six top officials has been educated abroad, worked for multinational firms like Morgan Stanley or KPMG, or affiliated with a leading think tank. Why?

In a competitive and crisis-prone world, personalist autocrats cannot survive on ideology and fear alone; they need to prove they can deliver stability. That means empowering experts to help run the government, but without letting them touch the levers of coercion. Although the regime has had only mixed results modernizing the country, its technocrats have succeeded in buffering the economy against shocks and projecting an image of competence that bolsters the regime’s legitimacy at home.

Drawing on new global data and fresh information on 1,578 Russian officials under Putin, I trace how autocrats recruit, compensate, manage, and ensure the continued loyalty of technocrats, especially following the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Even in times of extreme aggression, technocrats bet their expertise will outlast the leader who now depends on them. This research sheds new light on the future durability of Putin’s elite coalition, revealing the delicate balance between the technocrats and their more prominent partners in governance, the siloviki (officials linked to Russia’s national security apparatus). Understanding this relationship is key to understanding how Western policy may be calibrated to exploit regime weaknesses without inadvertently reinforcing the personnel dynamics that have allowed the regime to adapt and survive.

The event is organized by the National network for competence on Russia (RUSSNETT 2), and will be streamed on NUPI's YouTube channel: 

Related projects

Research project

2025 (Ongoing)

National network for competence on Russia (RUSSNETT 2025)

The national network for competence on Russia aims to preserve and further develop Norwegian knowledge of Russia across sectors in Norway. ...

• Russia and Eurasia

• Russia and Eurasia