The article is focused on actual theories and approaches for managing the socio-economic development of the region. And also strengths and weaknesses of the actual theories and approaches of regional development are shown. The article studies the specifics of regional development in Europe, the USA, the Russian Federation and the countries of Central Asia. Entropy approach to study the economic phenomena and processes is offered as an integrated one. It is shown that all actual approaches to regional development can be explained under the entropy approach as special cases. Opportunities for practical application of entropy approach for managing the socio-economic development of the region are shown. As well as the strengths and weaknesses of the entropy approach and the opportunities for its further development are pointed out