Why do political elites block reforms that would spur economic growth and development? Because growth and development would undermine their hold on political power.

But the post revolutionary elites are ideologically cynical and opportunistic.

The crucial point is that America s conservative elites believe Brooks, Eberstadt, and Murray.

And both countries are experiencing an increase in popular suspicion toward traditional political elites.

Authoritarian clientelist regimes depend on the silent assent of their populations and the loyalty of their elites.

Gerry Adams criticizes the silence of the Mauritanian elites On the eve of Mauritania's 30th Independence commemoration.

Iraq s political elites have resisted Maliki s desire for a second term for two reasons.

There is also no guarantee that the previous elites will not be able to re constitute similar regimes.

But, in the end, ordinary Germans have been proved right, and the elites have been proved wrong.

The lack of trust in political elites is linked to a suspicion, which is not entirely irrational, that elected governments have little authority.

As the surplus of food decreased, and thus the amount available to underpin their power, the control of the elites began to falter.

The United States led Coalition Provisional Authority empowered a new group of political elites who fundamentally distrusted one another and, more important, failed to coalesce around a shared vision for governing the country.

Italian elites are not the only ones in need of being shaken up.

They attack the old elites not to shake things up, but to take their power.

Authoritarian clientelist regimes depend on the silent assent of their populations and the loyalty of their elites. Unfortunately for Putin, when the former is called into question by popular protest, the latter can no longer be taken for granted.

Instead, the benefits of privatization and other initiatives went largely to political and business elites.

Does it consider Russia a powerful partner or a hostile neighbor? If France wants to take the lead on EU relations with Moscow, it must become far more sensitive to eastern and central European fears about Russia.

Instead, policy elites (and most economists) favor strengthening what is euphemistically called global governance.

This helps co opt the elite among the lower castes to the ruling coalition, and keeps the poor divided along caste lines.

Voters who support populist movements do so because they believe that current elites fail truly to represent them.

The specter of revolution had forced Western elites to use the power of the state to redistribute wealth and nurture the growth of loyal middle classes.

Slogans such as the people demand social justice , all the people are the opposition and the people demand democracy were chanted throughout the evening.

As the rainfall decreased, many of the cities further away from Lake Titicaca began to tender less foodstuffs to the elites.

Following the defeat in World War I, influence of German speaking elites over Central and Eastern Europe was greatly limited.

Just imagine a more virtuous Europe encountering a more decadent China, whose venal elites are starting to turn on each other?

Only these institutions are capable of preventing the elite capture and insider rents that are putting global prosperity at long term risk.

For French elites since World War II, alignment with Germany has been central to projecting French power and influence.

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In the past, a growing gap between what the country s governing elites delivered and the population s legitimate aspirations would have been addressed by imposing further repression.

And yet one senses among elites from emerging countries something akin to existential doubt, which the European crisis has served to reinforce.

French rule was characterized by a promotion of secular elites selected from the indigenous population, but it also aided the peaceful spread of Islam.

With the support of old elites, the urban middle class, and religious minorities, Egypt s military leaders have clearly adopted an all or nothing strategy.

The decisive factor will be whether it is initiated and managed by the ruling elites, as in Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, and Spain.

As it happens, Thaksin was overthrown in 2006 by a military coup that was largely backed by the Bangkok elites.

Typically, in the populist political imagination, elites disproportionately care for those who, like themselves, do not really belong. Europe s elites are regularly accused of lavishing benefits on ethnic minorities in the name of protecting their rights.

meaningful reforms look highly unlikely for the simple reason that they would harm the interests of Russia s ruling elites.

This discord is threatening to derail these countries burgeoning democratic processes, owing to growing competition between what Le Bon called the sovereignty of the crowds and the sovereignty of political elites.

But European elites, preoccupied with short term fixes, have not considered the long term need for such revisions to their own detriment.

The real problem of traditional elites may not be too much power, but too little.

But then critics shift ground and argue that trade driven growth benefits only the elites and not the poor it is not inclusive.

In the past, the political fervor of university campuses has often been tempered when student bodies have been co opted by political elites. This time that seems to be different.

As my colleague Jeffrey Frankel has remarked, for more than 20 years, Germany s elites have insisted that the eurozone will not be a transfer union.

Yet, for the last six years or so, Russia has been in a kind of limbo, with no strategy, no goals, and no elite consensus on a vision for the future.

Political elites called again and again for curtailment of press freedom. But Parliament and courts always returned over time to the core British value of free speech and expression.

Indeed, Russia s elites know that things are going wrong, and are voting the only way they can with their feet and by bank transfer, moving their families and their wealth out of the country.