Khozyain

Khozyain (хозяин) is a Russian term often used to describe a certain type of political leader.

It is a rich term which traditionally refers to a leader of a given social domain, a home, a village, an enterprise, or a country. The khozyain of a household is usually the oldest male and is entrusted with the welfare of the group. For someone to merit The Title of a real khozyain he must take care of those in his domain. Russians tend to judge leaders, including politicians, on whether they are (or give the impression of being) a real khozyain. They are sometimes hard to classify in a classical political sense since their overriding concerns are not a leftist or rightist political agenda, but the welfare of the group where ideology is less important than pragmatism, strength of character and problem solving skills.

A person who displays talents in this direction is called a khozyaistvennik.

A khozyain politician can easily be seen as authoritarian in a Western political context. A more accurate description would be to classify him as a father figure.

Examples of Khozyain politicians

• Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus
• Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow
• Oleksandr Omelchenko, former Mayor of Kiev
• Igor Smirnov, President of Transnistria