The article examines the link between socio-structural characteristics of regional political and administrative elites, with their innovative potential and role in the development of society. The relevance and significance of the problem due to the need for powerful groups to respond adequately to changing circumstances (especially in crisis), and thus positively influencing the development of the region and the country. The empirical basis of the research is the biographical database of the elite persons of the ten constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The database included information about the date and place of birth, type and place of education, career path and other characteristics of 936 representatives of regional political and administrative elites. The research methodology that was used can be defined as structural-biographical. We studied the structure of the regional power elite groups in connection with the biography of their members. The analysis allowed to draw a number of conclusions relating to human capital of power persons, the possible influence of socio-structural characteristics of the regional elites in their political behavior, innovation potential and role in the functioning and development of society. Significant trends in the recruitment of power groups that were discovered are oligarchization (which is associated with the narrowing of the pool of recruitment), professionalization (which, however, is not related to their possible effectiveness) and plutocratization, which may reduce the focus on innovative development. At the same time the institutionalization of regional elites reaches high level. In general, it can be argued that the innovative capacity of the regional political-administrative elites is low. In addition, the regional differentiation of the elite community is distinctly expressed. The characteristics of the regional administrative elite are more favourable for the positive development of the regions.
Daugavet et al. (Tue,) studied this question.