Is It Human Service Cartels or the Power Elite That Promote Societal Control and Repression? A Reaction to David Stoesz’s Human Services Cartels Article

This article is a reaction paper to the article in this journal issue entitled Human Service Cartels: The Soft Repression of the Mediocracy by David Stoesz. As such, it addresses two significant questions about the Stoesz article. One question is as follows: Are we really talking about a cartel? The other question is as follows: Isn’t it the power elite that promotes societal control and repression?

Civilization as a Political Construct

The article examines the recent increase of claims for the right to join the prestigious list of civilizations, the increased preference for the status of civilizational identity as a wider community rather than ethnic or religious. The claims for being acknowledged as a civilization are dictated by a number of reasons, all of which are actualized in connection with the fundamental domestic political and foreign policy changes observed in the world. The former Soviet republics face the difficulties of transition from the status of the Soviet republic to sovereign statehood. Their political and business elites are engaged in the he search for a "national idea" in order to implement the political policy chosen by them. A striking example of this is the ideological project "Seven Faces of the Great Steppe", the key message of which is to "re-ignite" the history of the Kazakhs by proving the "continuity of civilizational history" of Kazakhstan as "the main heir to the Steppe civilization". Thus there is a concern about the need to ensure the cohesion of fellow citizens around the "national idea" in the name of implementing the political course chosen by the authorities. A clear example of this is the nomination of programs like Kazakhstan's Rouhani 'Jiru" ideologically based on the project "Seven facets of the Great Steppe". The key message of the project is to "extend history" of the Kazakhs back to antiquity by proving the "continuity of civilizational history" of Kazakhstan, "the main heir to the Steppe Civilization". In India, increased interest in civilizational identification is associated with difficulties in effective modernization. In search of a national model of development, there is an appeal to archaic. The use of a "civilizational approach" in ideology and politics can lead to an apology of tradition, equated with a backward past. The danger of such an approach is compounded when it is a political construct created by the power elite, much less the sole leader.

The sociology and education of the political elite in post-Soviet Georgia

In this paper, the main reasons that led in the post-Soviet period to the process of replacing the ruling classes with the counter-elite are analyzed. In the study, using the dialectical methodology, the authors identify trends and, following them in a logical chain, explain the order of procedures for political elites’ circulation. This paper also focuses on the education factor, which significantly determines the process of formation and circulation of political elites in post-Soviet Georgia. If, in the Soviet period, one of the criteria for the formation and recruitment of local elites was local education, the trend in this direction in post-Soviet Georgia has been changed significantly. Education gained in Western, EuropeanAmerican universities has been one of the defining factors in the formation and recruitment of political elites by Georgia since its independence. However, in Georgia, mainly in Tbilisi, there are educational centers, socalled “elite schools”, the vast majority of which are attended by children of new Georgians, but according to the criteria of skills, 3-4 percent of schools accept students. This is the first phase of education for junior members of local political and powerful financial groups. The second phase is the migration of graduates of these institutions to higher education institutions of Western countries to get an education. Which makes it easier for returnees to the homeland to integrate into the elite structure. In conclusion, those criteria are set out that are necessary factors for replacing the power elite with the counter-elite.

Grupo México: Epítome de la deshumanización y la barbarie del extractivismo

The hegemonic development discourse continues to promote mining as an activity that generates progress despite the considerable evidence to the contrary. The article analyzes Grupo Mexico’s history, the largest mining consortium in the country, as part of the power elite. It shows how it achieved a monopoly of the leading copper deposits in the north of the country thanks to its alliances with the Mexican State. Later on, we present the cartography of the expansion of its operations in the north of the country, including the opening of controversial mining projects in strategic areas for biodiversity conservation such as the Sea of Cortés, the Baja California peninsula and, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán. Therefore, it is argued that it is important to consider companies’ environmental and social records when evaluating mining concessions’ renewal or revocation.