Abstract

The concept of political economy developed in the framework of political anthropology is considered. The key aspects of political economy in terms of political entrepreneurs, primitive money, power-property, social contracts are defined. The prospects of using the political economy methodology in the analysis of the Ukrainian political process are outlined. Political anthropology examines the pre-state pre-capitalist polity and economy. And that is why it can be a source of promising analytical tools for the analysis of post-Soviet, Ukrainian in particular, political process characterized by the weakness of the national institutions of the state and oligarchic distortion of the market economy. One of such advanced analytical tool is the concept of political economy. Political economy can be defined in three dimensions. First, it is a set of institutions by which political elites withdraw and convert resources for their own financing. Second, political economy is a field of struggle between political elites - ambitious political entrepreneurs that compete for power and resources and form different proto-state polity. Third, political economy can be defined by specific social contracts that elite conclude with a subservient population about the rules on withdrawal the resources and funding political apparatus. The concept of political economy can serve as a methodology for the analysis of post-Soviet political systems. Within this concept we can organize and analyze a number of fundamental issues of our political and economy.