This article discusses the state and developmental prospects of modern Russian elitology. Popular estimates of modern regional political elites provide an indicator reflecting the state of internal regional security. The analysis of the criteria of elitism, i.e., defining the set of personal and professional qualities of the people recruited into the elite, notes a discrepancy between the traditional meaning of elitism and the possession of real political power. The research of the features of the formation of the state elite in China has been done. The experience of the modernization of the American political elite ensuring the US withdrawal from the protracted social and economic crisis in the first half of the last century and the experience of the national elite reformatting in the South Korea, which was managed to bring the country out of a deep crisis in the postwar period was analyzed. This article is one of the first attempts to assess objectively the status and prospects of domestic elitology and regional elites in order to formulate recommendations for Russian elitologists.

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