Kolyadin A.M. Modern political elite: features and trends

Abstract: The author studies the modern peculiarities of political elite, conditioned by the global policy circumstances and the national political process. This scientific interest is caused by, firstly, the strengthened contradictions between the fundamental provisions of conventional study of elites and the current political practice, in which the new specific features of “elite” and “political class” emerge, and secondly, the nature of the so-called “transition” or “hybrid” regimes, in which elite configurations significantly differ from theoretical patterns, which hasn’t been understood sufficiently enough. The research methodology is based on the works of G. Mosca, V. Pareto, R. Michels, J. Ortega y Gasset, E. Schattschneider, C. W. Mills and the key modern thinkers as R. Putnam, T. Dye and others. The author detects the features, characterizing the specificity of the modern political establishment of Russia; special attention is paid to the recruiting mechanisms and instruments, supporting the sustainable reproduction of elite. The author considers the influence of the topical trends of information and media space on the nature of relations of power and the formation of elite community, both in the national and international dimension. 

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