Elite, Leader, Nation in the Modern Developed Countries: Attempt of Rational Analysis of the Power Hierarchy

Abstract

The article written in the Realpolitik-style raises one of the most thorny issues in the modern political life of the developed countries, the issue of the power hierarchy, the formal and informal relations in the «triangle»: elite - leader - nation. The author argues that at the turn of XXI century the power initiative came under the control of the elite communities, and national leaders and population took a complementary role in the political system. So the State officials are only moderators within elite as the holders of the controlling block of shares and in fact do not have «voluntarist» possibilities in their actions, and population in the formal democratic countries is an outright «minority» and acts as political extras. At the same time the article deals with elite holding the activity of the political leaders and civil society in check.