Issue ? 47. December 2014

Political and Administrative Elite of the Modern State

Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: artem-1985@yandex.ru

The choice of the article’s theme was dictated by the necessity of a more precise definition of the notion of "political and administrative elite". The article examines modern state elite’s political and administrative boundaries, the differences of this notion from related notions "political elite" and "administrative elite", factor selection in support of its isolation and the factors contributing to its transparency. Distinction between the notions of "political elite" and "administrative elite" are considered in the framework of value and structural-functional approach dichotomy. The author concludes that political and administrative elite of a modern state is a group of individuals who, owing to their strategic position in more or less significant public and private organizations and movements are able to regularly and significantly influence the political decisions of the state, as well as individuals with the ability to consistently solve the existing political problems.

The article also indicates the importance of self-determination or "elite identity" of political and administrative elites as a factor of transparency of the boundaries between them. The author describes two approaches to political and administrative elite dichotomy, associated with certain types of work ("workers" and "White Collar"), which is the basis for political behavior of the non-elite and a cause for individual support of various political positions: status approach to power within the first type of labor, administrative relation to power within the second type of labor. In addition to the elite dichotomy the author highlights the factors that determine the existence of boundaries between political and administrative elite and non-elite: social origin factor, knowledge, skills and habits factors, democratic election factor. The author stresses the importance of researching the accountability of political and administrative elite’s representatives, depending on differences in their formation and functioning, associated with the degree of formal and actual politicization, social capital development and the approach of its representatives to their professional duties, as well as personal motivators of their professional activity. 

Keywords

Political and administrative elite, value and structural-functional approach, factors, identity, accountability.