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In the sprawling, often contradictory narrative of post-Soviet Russia, the oligarch is a figure of both immense power and profound vulnerability. To the Western eye, they are the swashbuckling robber barons of a new era, men who grabbed state assets…

In the sprawling, often contradictory landscape of Russian political economy, the word “oligarch” paints a very specific picture. It’s a term that evokes superyachts moored off Monaco, London townhouses bought through shell companies, and a gilded class that crawled from…

In the murky, often contradictory architecture of Russian power, the oligarch occupies a strange and paradoxical position. He is at once a product of the state’s chaotic retreat in the 1990s and a creature entirely dependent on its current, rigid…

The Oligarch’s Bargain: How Concentrated Wealth Sustains Authoritarian Stability By Yelena Sorokina In the architecture of modern authoritarianism, the oligarch is not a parasite. He is a load-bearing wall. The popular imagination likes to cast the ultra-wealthy as independent kingmakers,…

In the sprawling, often murky architecture of Russian political power, the oligarch occupies a strange and contradictory position. To the outside world, they are the poster children of post-Soviet excess—superyachts, London mansions, and bitter legal feuds in Swiss courts. But…