On the Elitological Theory of a Transit Society in Modern Russia

These theses represent some thoughts and ideas cast by the analytical review of doctor’s and master’s theses on the elitological subjectsof the recent two decades. As of now, elitology has not been well developed in Russia. Perhaps, the only full-fledged elitologicalschool of thought is functioning in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Not all other centres and research groups engaged in this problematicsare organised, active or independent enough. Meanwhile, modern Russia is in a desperate need of development of the theoretical basisand accumulation of practical knowledge in elitology. The first reason thereof is the pressing need to create political and administrativeelite of a new-type, develop standards and criteria of belonging to an elite group and establish effective mechanisms of controlof elite development processes by the society. Under the conditions of a transit society, a closed mechanism of vertically integratedelite development has proved to be ineffective. At the moment, country leaders are attempting to make the elite development processmore open. At the same time, the elite of any transit society face permanent opposition from not only the counterelite but also theantielite. Under these conditions, coming of the antielite to power is a serious danger, while existence of the counterelite contributes todemocratization and development of a civil society. In the Russian society, all these three forces have had their own configuration fromthe early 1990s and up to now, which is quite specific as compared with other countries. To have a firm grasp of this field and provide acompetent conduct of an elite development policy, Russian authorities need a domestic theoretical elitological foundation based on therecent experience of Russia, concerned about its specificity and developed with account of national interests, first of all.