How does the Ukrainian oligarchy keep going?
“Almost 70 deputies work for Kolomoisky, and another 100 for Akhmetov” reads a recent headline in Ukrayinska Pravda . The article then catalogues some of the actions in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian legislature, that these parliamentarians are said to conduct on their patrons’ behalf. But Ihor Kolomoisky and Rinat Akhmetov are only the most high-profile of the handful of leading oligarchs who have dominated Ukraine’s political and economic life for more than two decades, usually to its detriment. Two sides of the same coin A striking feature modern Ukraine is not just the ongoing influence in public life of such figures, but also the resilience of the oligarchy as an institution across episodes of serious political disjuncture, including the Maidan revolt of 2013/14, which seemed for a short time to threaten its survival. An oligarchy is a political system dominated by a social minority of wealth holders. If wealth is the characteristic source of oligarchs’ social power, it is b