Moscow: Gumanitarii Publ., 2001, 592 p.

(c) 2002

At the beginning of the 90-ies of the last century, there was a clear crisis in Russian African studies, primarily in general theoretical studies. The previous approach to the Black Continent as the main reserve of "socialist orientation" has revealed its inconsistency along with the ideas of Soviet-style socialism. In order to enter the mainstream of world social studies, it was necessary in a short time to master new theoretical approaches and methodologies that were previously criticized as "bourgeois science". And here it turned out that Russia and Africa have a lot in common: the problems of transitional societies, socio-cultural inversions, the formation of democracy and multiparty, political mythology in crisis situations, and much more. This gave a new impetus and a new meaning to the development of Russian African studies, as evidenced by the book by L. V. Geveling.

A fundamental study of the most dangerous forms of power organization for society - kleptocracy (the power of thieves), lutocracy (the power of robbers) and plutocracy (the power of the rich) - is based on a wide range of sources and literature (a total of 1,249 titles). The subject of the study is Nigeria, which is often called "Africa in Miniature" because of the diversity of ethnic and religious groups, the uneven and specific development of regions, as well as the constant leadership in the ratings of the most corrupt states. Although the author himself avoids parallelisms and direct hints at the similarity of the studied destructive phenomena in Nigeria and Russia, the reader involuntarily has analogies with modern Russian reality. Epigraphs from the works of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, N. V. Gogol, A. S. Griboyedov, A. N. Ostrovsky and other classics of Russian literature who denounced the eternal Russian embezzlement create a certain mood for this perception of the material.

In the first section of the monograph ("Kleptocracy and corruption"), much attention is paid to the analysis of the main conceptual works that study the theoretical aspects of these and related phenomena of social reality. For the first time in Russian political science, all the main doctrines about corruption, points of view, and theories are described and systematized in detail and correctly, which makes the book useful for those who want to understand the essence of these anti-social phenomena. Summing up various views, L. V. Geveling comes to the conclusion that corruption as a social phenomenon has deep historical roots, acquires global significance in the XX century and serves as an unconditional factor in the formation of kleptocracy. Kleptocracy itself is defined by the author as "a way of organizing power that takes shape on the verge of absurdly commercialized political process and institutionalized corruption in its material and non-material forms" (p. 487).

One of the main conditions for the formation of kleptocracy in Nigeria, L. V. Geweling considers state intervention in economic life, which is ensured by the monopoly right of the highest bureaucracy to develop, adopt and control strategic and tactical decisions in the field of regulating market segments of the economy. Economic corruption in the country appears to be a multi-faceted phenomenon, the main channels of implementation of which are extortion of civil servants, bribery, personal interest of officials in concluding state contracts, secret receipt of commission fees and gifts, purchase and sale of public positions, theft of state property by officials, obstruction of legitimate business activities and resolution of deliberately illegal transactions. The extent to which the Nigerian kleptocracy has grown rich in corruption has varied depending on the attitudes of successive regimes, but it has always been impressive.

The author pays great attention to the analysis of political corruption (POLCORR), which is based largely on the negative economy (a kind of" anti-economy " that functions contrary to social norms) and economic corruption. "Funktsionirova-

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The emergence and development of POLCORR, "he writes," gradually led to the formation of a peculiar culture of political corruption, generated by practical interests, as well as intellectual, moral, and aesthetic demands of the kleptocracy and related social groups, and their subjective ideas about politics" (p.77). Based on the degree of negative influence on the political system, L. V. Geveling distinguishes two forms of POLCORR - moderate and extreme. The first ones (slander, defamation, false accusations against political and public figures, provocation of bribes, obstruction of the exercise of citizens ' electoral rights, introduction of unjustified bans and restrictions on pre-election rallies, falsification of voting results, far-fetched restrictions on providing information to journalists and public organizations, etc. The former are aimed at perverting the principles of organizing power and revaluing cultural values, but do not claim to completely destroy the political institutions of society and its communication systems; the latter (hooliganism and vandalism with a political background, organizing mass riots ordered by political forces, individual political terror, creating underground terrorist organizations, propaganda of religious and ethnic exclusivity, public appeals mass refusal to perform civil duties or forcibly change the constitutional order, etc.) lead to the collapse of the political system, the collapse of the state and the anomie of society (pp. 77-78). Both forms are widespread in Nigeria, and their social carriers are members of the kleptocracy and lutocracy. In this regard, the author's arguments about the hypothetical possibility of the kleptocracy of some African countries creating a kind of "anti - state" through the formation of a political anti-system in the context of the crisis of the state idea and the spread of anti-etatist sentiments are interesting (pp. 98-111).

A separate chapter is devoted to the use of money in Nigerian politics, especially in the processes of financing election and election campaigns, political parties and organizations. As L. V. Geweling notes, "as the' political function 'of money expanded and became more complex in Nigeria and a number of other countries, wealth not only became the goal and instrument of power, but also turned into the main path to the top of party and state administration, and in a sense was even identical to it" (p. 131). Using the Nigerian example, the author presents and analyzes the global problems of political financing, which makes his research an important tool in the fight against this evil in many countries of the world, including Russia.

Highlighting kleptocracy as a special group that is socially and politically rejected by other social strata of society, and therefore tends to disguise itself as decent groups, L. V. Geveling considers the interaction of the Nigerian kleptocracy and the elite, bureaucracy, and"political classes". He concludes that in its current form, the Nigerian kleptocracy functions as an influential element of the social cryptostructure, as well as a component of the informal sector of social development (p. 225).

In the second section ("Lutocracy and the negative economy"), the author examines the symbiosis of lutocracy and the negative (shadow) economy (NEK), but first gives a detailed classification of the latter's manifestations. He considers NEK not only as a set of crimes in the economic sphere, but also as socially abnormal entrepreneurship, within which freedom of labor, internal sovereignty of the individual, and freedom of will are excluded. In its activities, the NEK relies on forms of organized crime. The author analyzes the activities of criminal syndicates (CS) in Nigeria from the point of view of lutocracy formation and NEK development features and divides them into four sectors: the first one is related to drug trafficking, issue and distribution of counterfeit banknotes, smuggling operations, tax evasion; the second one is related to pseudo-legal business activities, including loan and credit operations, drug trafficking, and drug trafficking. counterfeit medicines, copyright infringement and mass production of counterfeit products, illegal business with antiques, environmental crimes; the third-with the gambling industry, illegal businesses in the field of entertainment and services, illegal import and production of weapons, etc.; the fourth includes blackmail, looting and robbery in Nigerian ports, racketeering, kidnapping, contract payments murder and the slave trade.

L. V. Geweling introduces the concept of negative governance in relation to Nigerian criminal syndicates, which are complex in the systemic and managerial sense

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organizations, and notes that most lutocrats are the social embodiment of the negative management function (p. 309). He examines in detail the similarities and differences between negative and positive (legal) management, analyzes various types of power in the CS, draws attention to the emergence of "global managers" of the NEC as a result of the expansion of Nigerian CS outside the country, including to Russia.

The tendency of the lutocracy to covert activity allowed L. V. Geweling to designate the elements of society that represent the NEK as cryptosocial. Based on this, the author develops an original theory of cryptosocial communities. Very interesting are his attempts to find the roots of modern lutocracy in hunting societies of the Mesolithic era (racketeering, robbery, robbery, etc.), to present it as the result of self-organization of reviving archaized social structures, as well as the reproduction of corresponding models of consciousness and culture (p. 314). The original explanation of the development of cryptosocial organizations in terms of parasitology gives the theory developed by the author clarity and persuasiveness.

Noting that with the politicization of society, organized crime is also politicized, L. V. Geweling makes an important conclusion that, on the one hand, NEK has a destructive impact on the social structure of Nigerian society as a whole, and on the other hand, it serves as the basis for forming its own parallel and cryptosocial structure. The author does not exclude that "in the future, this criminal social 'pyramid' will act as an independent and very formidable political force " (p.330).

The third section ("Plutocracy as a reference group of kleptocracy and lutocracy") is perhaps more saturated with theoretical material than others. Based on the structural logic of the analysis of the "power of wealth", L. V. Geveling gradually constructs three models of this phenomenon: 1) logical (abstract, reference); 2) genetic (averaging - ideal, general historical, planetary); 3) national (country or specific historical). All of them are analyzed in a close relationship and can serve as methodological guidelines for research of any national forms of plutocracy. Most attention is paid to the logical model of plutocracy in the framework of systems theory. The author considers and generalizes the most diverse methods of studying plutocracy (from intuitive to structural-functional) and advocates the interdisciplinary nature of the analysis of the phenomenon.

L. V. Geweling's concept of primary and secondary levels of power organization should be recognized as a significant contribution to the study of political systems in West Africa. The first combines individual principles and institutions of traditional and pro-bourgeois forms of democracy and autocracy, as well as elements of non-political archaic rule. This mode of power, according to the author, developed as a structural-horizontal system, as a kind of supporting structure of the political sphere and "generally reflects the degree of compliance of political systems and the entire political space with the main direction of development of social progress in the countries of West Africa in the current historical period" (p. 361). Secondary forms of power organization emerged with the self-determination and self-realization of those social groups that were ripe for active and purposeful participation in the system of political relations: bureaucracy, kleptocracy, lutocracy, partocracy, etc. Plutocracies and other parallel forms of power vie for control of the main way power is organized, but they can also cooperate constructively.

Defining plutocracy as the power of the rich, exercised by the rich in their narrow corporate interests, L. V. Geveling reveals the similarities and differences between the social characteristics of financial oligarchy and plutocracy and notes that in the conceptual sense, the concept of plutocracy inevitably remains more vague and amorphous, reflecting many social atavisms and archaisms inherent in the object. The plutocracy is not interested in formally ruling, but in actually governing. "That is why the main task of its political existence is to expand its participation in the management of public resources and institutions... public or tacit control over the process of making politically important decisions" (p. 377).

L. V. Geveling's arguments about the formation of the NEK culture, which is characterized by a high level of tolerance of society to many types of economic offenses, are of undoubted interest. This counterculture doesn't just act as a social network.-

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It also seeks to lay the foundations of its own morals and develop its own social and cultural norms. Considering "corruption tolerance" to be one of the crucial imperatives for the development of kleptocracy, the author argues that this state of Nigerian society does not indicate its tacit acceptance of top corruption, but only its traditional submission to the authorities, political "fatigue" and indifference, as well as an overabundance of defamatory information (p.402). And again, for the umpteenth time, there are analogies with the Russian reality.

At the beginning of the last section ("Evolution of strategies for combating kleptocracy and lutocracy in Nigerian Governments. The author summarizes the international experience of curbing the considered destructive phenomena, including the activities of various international organizations. In a separate chapter, he analyzes the policies of the ruling regimes of Nigeria, civil and military (from the declaration of independence to the present day), examines the positive and negative patterns of attack on anti-social norms of power. This experience is undoubtedly of great interest to the organizers of the fight against corruption and the negative economy in any country of the world.

Summing up the results of the study, the author makes moderately optimistic forecasts about the future of kleptocracy and lutocracy in Nigeria and in the world, which is associated with the growing awareness of the perniciousness of these anti-social phenomena both at the country and planetary levels. He does not believe in the possibility of a "great criminal revolution" in Nigeria, in support of which he gives a number of convincing arguments, the main one of which is the discrepancy between the fundamental goals and the general conflict between the existence of lutocracy and kleptocracy. In the long run, with the advent of the new world order, these destructive forms of power organization should disappear at the system level. But the war against them, which involves a combination of national and international efforts, according to the author, will be long and persistent. One of the keys to victory should be deciphering the" genetic codes " of kleptocracy and lutocracy, as well as understanding the mechanisms of their reproduction. This is undoubtedly true.

L. V. Geveling's monograph became a significant contribution to the creation of a political theory of destructive ways of organizing power. Reading this book is not easy, because of the complexity of the problems that it analyzes, as well as the constant search for analogies in Russian reality, but it is interesting and useful, especially for those who have not yet acquired tolerance for evil and believe in a decent future.

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