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Cincinnatus and the Apparatchik

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Zbigniew Brzezinski  and
Samuel P. Huntington
Samuel P. Huntington
Affiliation:
Columbia University Harvard University
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Extract

KTO KOVO?” asked Lenin. “Who governs?” echoes a contemporary American political scientist. The question is of perennial interest. The “who's” have the capacity to influence the behavior of others. They include political leaders, who customarily exercise power through public or governmental bodies, and non-political leaders, who may exercise power through the command of other values, such as wealth, income, expertise. Political leaders and non-political leaders together constitute the elite; they lead the masses, who, needless to say, greatly outnumber the elite.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , October 1963 , pp. 52 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1963

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References

1 See Dahl, Robert A., Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City (New Haven 1961), 1–8Google Scholar, 84–85.

2 Mills, C. Wright, The Power Elite (New York 1956), 402Google Scholar.

3 CURRICULUM OF THE FOUR-YEAR PARTY SCHOOL:

4 Armstrong, John A., The Soviet Bureaucratic Elite: A Case Study of the Ukrainian Apparatus (New York 1959), 37Google Scholar.

5 Hunter, Floyd, Top Leadership USA (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1959)Google Scholar, I95ff.

6 The Central Committee includes no religious leader. Hunter's sample does not include any professional diplomats; while possibly significant, this omission may also reflect a primary concern with domestic policy. The two factory workers and two kolkhozniki in the Central Committee were probably more “dignified” than “efficient” members. The less efficient and more dignified Supreme Soviet contains many more rank-and-file workers.

7 Lawyers are generally presumed to play a major role in American politics, and hence the small number of individuals who had law as a primary occupation requires some comment. Twenty-two of the American elite had law degrees or were members of the bar. The primary career of half of these, however, was in politics; three were principally businessmen; two combined law and politics; two combined law and government service; and only three devoted the bulk of their career to the law. Apparently, it is precisely because law is such a good stepping-stone to leadership positions that so few political leaders have worked for long in the legal profession. For the Soviet Central Committee, engineering provides the most frequent professional training.

8 As will be noted below, the top leaders of the Kennedy Administration at the outset had more experience in politics (although not in running for electoral office) than the top leaders in either the Truman or the Eisenhower Administration. This small change in the Administration, however, would not have altered significandy the ratio between businessmen and politicians in the national leadership as a whole.

9 Schlesinger, Joseph A., How They Became Governor: A Study of Comparative State Politics, 1870–1950 (East Lansing, Mich., 1957), IIGoogle Scholar.

10 See Schulze, Robert O., “Economic Dominants in the Community Power Structure,” American Sociological Review, XXIII (February 1958), 3–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schulze, Robert O. and Blumberg, Leonard, “The Determination of Local Power Elites,” American Journal of Sociology, LXIII (November 1957), 290–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dahl, Who Governs? Book 1.

11 Fainsod, Merle. How Russia Is Ruled (rev. edn., Cambridge, Mass., 1963), 181CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Ibid., 206–7. Cf. Leonard Schapiro, The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (New York i960), 572–73.

13 Bryce, James, The American Commonwealth (London and New York, 1891), II, 52–62Google Scholar.

14 These figures are all from Mills, Power Elite, 228–231.

15 Hunter, Top Leadership, 208. For other discussions of the gap between congressionalelectoral politicians and other elements of the national elite, see Hacker, Andrew, “The Elected and the Anointed,” American Political Science Review, LV (September 1961), 539–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rosenau, James N., National Leadership and Foreign Policy (Princeton 1963), 345–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Cater, Douglass, “A New Style, A New Tempo,” The Reporter, XXIV (March 16, 1961), 28Google Scholar.

17 While diversity presents problems, it also has its advantages, as some British observers have become aware. See the comments on the British and American systems of recruitment by Beloff, Max, “The Planner's Place in Foreign Policy,” The Times (London), January 18, 1963, 9Google Scholar.

18 ‘Truman & Co., Limited,” Harpers, Vol. 199 (July 1949), 19Google Scholar.

19 Cf. “By and large, the members of President Kennedy's Cabinet who have held elective office seemed to have had more difficulty in adjusting themselves to their Cabinet roles than did those previously associated with big business, big labor, or big foundations.” Kenworthy, E. W., “New York Times, July 16, 1962, 16Google Scholar.

20 See Rovere's, Richard magistral, seven-volume opus, The Establishment—Ins and Outs (New York and Boston, 1909—), VI, 1,984Google Scholar.