Because it is a somewhat literal translation the English is a bit stylized. But worth reading for this analyst's assessment of the issues that Western elites now face in a historical context.
In general, the elite is not something "especially good" [meritocracy], but a group of people who can make decisions on the fate of society. The reasons for such opportunities (property ownership, administrative power, military power and so on) can be different at first stage, then they intertwine, but the main criterion - is decision making. If there is no consensus on the adoption of the most important strategic decisions, then society is doomed for an unenviable fate, including a possibility of a civil war.
There are many examples. These are the bourgeois revolutions of the XVII-XIX centuries, the 1930-ies in the USSR, clashes in the Soviet republics at the turn of the 1990-ies of the last century, and so on and so forth. Since such scenarios are best avoided, the elites always create several fundamentally important mechanisms.....
The first - is a consensus system. In particular, in the "Western" global project there are many such institutions ....
The second institute [institution] - is propaganda. It transmits the consensus policies to the society, to counter and offset dissent. Actually, anti-elite (i.e. the part of society that is fundamentally not satisfied with the existing order), always exists, the goal is to keep it in a box and not allow serious support from the outside.
The third institute is "security". That is a system of suppression of potential anti-elite groups and movements. It operates in many ways - from "soft" suppression of dissent (in the U.S., for example, potentially dissenting voices are not allowed to make a career) to harsh crack down.....
Note that the second and third instrument operate only in the presence of consensus in the elites on the path of development of the country. If there is no such consensus, the system goes off the rails. We saw this in the late 80's - early 90-ies, and can see it now. Our elite in the 2000s realized that just "security" is insufficient, there is a need for a positive ideology, however, all attempts to create it without touching the corrupt oligarchic system did not lead to success....
In conclusion, it can be noted that the main problem of the modern elite of the "Western" project is that the internal division of this elite destroys the two main mechanisms of any state: system-founding ideology and a system of political security.
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