Review of the monograph of A. V. Samokhina, A. L. Khudoborodov "At the sharp turns of Russian history: the formation of the political elite of the Chelyabinsk region. 1990-2000"

The monograph by A. V. Samokhina and A. L. Khudoborov is devoted to the actual and little-studied question of the transformation of the Soviet political system into a democratic one. In the first half of the 1990s. The Chelyabinsk Region has become one of the regions of Russia where, against the background of the socio-economic crisis, a sharp political confrontation broke out. In historiography, it received the name - «Chelyabinsk opposition». In the region took shape the political opposition of the two camps. The leaders of the confrontation were V. P. Soloviev (head of the administration of the Chelyabinsk region in 1991-1996) and P. I. Sumin (governor of the Chelyabinsk region in 1996-2010). Against the background of an acute political crisis in the Chelyabinsk region, economic reforms, the formation of democratic institutions of power and the transformation of the political elite took place. The monograph presents the process of formation of the new political elite of the Chelyabinsk region, the beginning of which was initiated by the deep institutional reforms of the 1990s. in Russia. The change in the political regime of governance, the transformation of state authorities in the region, opened up the possibility of including in the political elite representatives of the new generation closely related to entrepreneurship. The book analyzes the socio-demographic characteristics of the political elite of the Chelyabinsk region in 1990-2000. The authors focused on the study of changes in the composition and structure of the elite, as well as its role in the public and political life of the region.