An axiological turn in Russian elitogenesis: 
from pluralism to state-civilizational 
consolidation

The purpose of this work is to substantiate the need for an axiological turn in the theory of political elites and to demonstrate a value-civilizational approach using the example of the evolution of the Russian elite. The research methodology is based on the integration of comparative historical analysis used to identify the continuity of value codes, discourse analysis of official documents and public speeches to identify axiological elite attitudes, and an institutional approach to study the mechanisms of recruiting and rotation. Within the framework of the article, elite genesis is interpreted as an institutionally mediated political process involved in the dynamics of power interactions and management technologies. It is shown that the value attitudes of the ruling groups perform the function of a normative regulator of the institutional behavior of the elites, determining the nature of the use of political technologies, models of managerial decision-making and forms of interaction with social and corporate actors. In this context, the elite acts as a subject of institutional design and transformation of political processes, and not solely as a carrier of formal power status. The authors conclude that modern Russian elitogenesis is moving from a pluralistic model to a model of guided axiological consolidation around the «state-civilization» project. The key features of this transformation are: the primacy of ideological loyalty over meritocracy, the strengthening of the role of the power elite, the centralization of personnel processes and the use of the discourse of traditional values as a tool for effective management in the face of global challenges. The identified trends and contradictions between ideological isolation and the need for innovation are of practical importance for predicting the trajectories of political development and personnel policy.