Theory of elites in the concept of Viacheslav Lypinsky
Authors: Kotenko Tetyana Viktorivna 
Published: January 2025

The article analyzes Vyacheslav Lipinsky’s political views regarding the role and place of the political elite in forming the Ukrainian state. It examines the concepts, nature, and essence of the «elite theory» category, which forms the basis of Vyacheslav Lipinsky’s scientific concept and its potential use in contemporary state-building practice. Vyacheslav Lipinsky’s ideas, which are associated with analyzing their origins, are characterized. The first conceptual approaches to clarifying the role and significance of the political elite, associated with the names of G. Mosca and V. Pareto, are analyzed, which justified the objective nature of elitism and clarified the unique qualities of the elite, criteria of belonging to the elite, as well as characterized the processes of change, circulation, and renewal within elites. It is noted that the elite theory influenced the development of political and legal thought, including the formation of ideas and views of political figures of the Ukrainian statehood revival period, in particular Vyacheslav Lipinsky, who analyzed the reasons for the emergence, development, and decline of the state in his works and identified the driving forces of any state-building process. According to Vyacheslav Lipinsky, power and a leading population stratum are the carriers of this state’s power, which is inherent in all states. Vyacheslav Lipinsky identifies three main types of state structure, classocracy, democracy, and ochlocracy, and determines the representatives of three strata who can carry state power. It is clarified that Vyacheslav Lipinsky considered classocracy the most acceptable for Ukraine, in which there are two defined classes: «black» — passive, and «yellow» — active. Representatives of the active class are characterized as balanced, feeling their nation is capable of power, and after coming to power, they balance all interests and establish a «chivalrous peace». In Vyacheslav Lipinsky’s opinion, a force that supports power in the name of the good of the entire territory and all citizens is necessary. Therefore, according to him, the nation is a crucial moment in the state-building process. The characteristics of the nation are considered in the views of Vyacheslav Lipinsky. The nation comprises the best, most energetic, and most skilled «aristocrats of the spirit» — people characterized by a certain «idealism». The nation should unite based on territorial patriotism, regardless of ethnic origin, class or cultural affiliation, or religion, guided primarily by a love for Ukraine and a desire to build their national state. In Vyacheslav Lipinsky’s opinion, it is determined that the Ukrainian nation should become the new national aristocracy. Vyacheslav Lipinsky attributed to the national aristocracy not the hereditary aristocracy but the best, most energetic, and most capable authorities of each class, characterized by two attributes: material power acquired during material production and moral authority. In Vyacheslav Lipinsky’s opinion, without a national aristocracy, there is no state. It is noted that according to the scientist, the most appropriate form of organization of state power for the new Ukrainian national aristocracy as the leading stratum of the population will be classocracy. In classocracy, the scientist pays attention to the process of elite circulation necessary for their successful functioning. Vyacheslav Lipinsky associated the future of Ukraine with establishing the power of the classocratic elite headed by the hetman, who limits the power of the elite and acts by the laws. Another condition for the existence of classocracy is the limitation of secular power by spiritual power. Thus, Vyacheslav Lipinsky formulated the idea that in any society, there is a higher privileged class — the national elite capable of overcoming destructive tendencies and creating a national state. In such a state, the economic, political, and cultural freedoms of the population are ensured. According to scientists, the problem of Ukrainian political development and the ultimate goal of Ukrainians is constructing an independent national state, which Vyacheslav Lipinsky attributed to European civilization.

Key words: Conception, the national aristocracy, classocratia, political elite, nation.