The ruling elite are known to be torn by disputes and rivalries.

Third, a widening generation gap has spread to the ruling elites.

But there was no real victory for the country s power elite nor was society defeated.

Of course, doubts about the ruling elite are not unique to India.

For Britain and the US, the transition in the nature of the governing elite was relatively smooth.

And most, if not all, of the children of the ruling elite in Beijing are in a similar position.

So the power elite fight among themselves, because there is no one else to fight with.

If it were, Swiss banks and international organizations would close their doors.

You may see skyscrapers in Addis Ababa, but they are owned by the ruling elites, army officers and their affiliates.

Today, by contrast, members of the ruling elite benefit directly and immensely from the state dominated economy.

Russia s ruling elite is increasingly failing to measure up to Russia s capabilities and needs.

Today, the mainstream of the Chinese intelligentsia is an integral part of the ruling elite.

Syrian blogger Jassas blames Syria's ruling elite of stalling development and reform in his country.

So the ruling elite engineered a coup to secure the power they had failed to win at the ballot box.

Such a volatile ruling elite cannot be counted on to be consistent from now on.

However, over time, most of these constitutions have been amended to suit the interests of the powerful dominant political elites.

And the ruling elite opens a number of parliamentary seats to a popular vote, only to be shocked by a landslide opposition win.

Except in totalitarian regimes, a country s elite depends on a degree of popular acceptance, which is mostly derived from the belief that the elite is broadly fair in its dealings.

The coming presidential election is thus a test that will answer several fundamental questions. Will Ukrainian society maintain its right to choose its representatives, or will a so called managed democracy win out, with power transferred back and forth within small circles of oligarchic clans?

Countries will increasingly find that their priorities must reflect broad public sentiment rather than that of a ruling elite.

Would a truly self confident ruling elite have been so skittish about his activism?

Today, they have vowed to fight government elites, Christianity, and foreign influences like the IMF and World Bank, which they accuse of re colonizing Kenya.

Yet even that elementary wisdom has never occurred to traditional ruling elites too set in their myopic and arrogant ways.

Except in totalitarian regimes, a country s elite depends on a degree of popular acceptance, which is mostly derived from the belief that the elite is broadly fair in its dealings. Following the recent series of scandals, the average Indian does not believe this anymore.

The split divides those who are and are not concerned about the fate of Russian elites vast personal holdings in the West.

This dedication to dirigisme has spawned among the ruling elite a sense of entitlement and hostility to business.

As long as the governing elite works in this splendor, one cannot expect that they will ever behave like common mortals.

And the Chinese gave this small ruling elite loads of military weapons and sophisticated technology in order to ensure that people like me would not speak out against this relationship.

By identifying squarely with the military security apparatus headed by Ahmadinejad, Khamenei has alienated an important segment of the ruling clerical elite.

In the absence of institutional channels for expression of their grievances over the corrupt concessions that have preserved the ruling elite s power, they must take to the streets.

Thaksin s unforgivable sin was his violation of Thailand s unwritten rules about how the country s ruling elites are to behave.

Journalists avoided commenting on these matters. The public either was unaware of any excesses, or deemed the ruling elite corrupt by definition.

Russia s ruling elite understands very well that reforms are needed indeed, the Putin Medvedev era, now in its 14th year, has suffered no shortage of reform programs.

They know that practically all of the ruling elite s children attend expensive schools in the United States and the United Kingdom, where they would be shielded from the mindless drivel at home.

The underlying explanation lies in the culture and prejudices of France s governing elite, the so called grands commis formed by the National Civil Service School of which Hollande like virtually all of his predecessors, except Nicolas Sarkozy is an alumnus.

Dynastic succession safeguards the immediate and frequently extensive interests of the ruling family as well as those of the wider political and business elite.

Orwell s Big Brother would not have been amused by this remark. But a member of Brave New World s ruling elite would have taken it in stride.

Still, as the recent controversy over the Nobel Peace Prize demonstrated, the government remains nervous about any dissent that challenges the legitimacy of the ruling elite.

Their departure from political life is becoming widely viewed as a symptom of deepening divisions among the Putin era governing elite, even a harbinger of political crisis.

But there was no real victory for the country s power elite nor was society defeated. The protests reflected irreversible changes.

Without a significant increase in opportunities for political participation, including genuinely competitive elections, the chasm between a predominantly young population and a ruling elite with a narrow generational base will widen.

Third, faced with chronic economic disorder and political instability, Egyptians increasingly lament the hijacking of the revolution, fueling mistrust of the country s governing elites.

Even before Pakistan s ruling elite was shaken by the killings in Pakistan s streets and the turmoil in Tunisia and Egypt, it had begun to plan measures aimed at mollifying an increasingly restive citizenry.

As long as much of Chinese society views the current political system as unjust, unresponsive, and corrupt, there will always be a large reservoir of ill will toward the ruling elites.

He fled to Vieanna, Austria, and sporadically uses Internet to throw in discrediting materials about the ruling elite.