Throughout human history, the developmental trajectories of states have repeatedly followed recognizable phases and cycles identified by scholars. Political regimes, power structures, and state institutions operate according to specific “rules of the game” shaped by the interplay of politics and public administration. The dichotomy between politics and administration - first articulated by political scientists in the second half of the 20th century - has revealed a foundational theoretical and conceptual tension: which domain is primary? The underlying premise of this distinction is that state activity is bifurcated into two functions - policy formulation and policy implementation. Transformations in states - evident in shifts across multiple policy domains, administrative-territorial reconfigurations, and institutional operational frameworks - can thus be legitimately conceptualized as politico-administrative transformations. These transformations, driven by dynamic interactions between political decision-making and administrative execution, constitute a critical subject of scholarly inquiry for forecasting the future trajectory of political systems and clarifying the roles of governance actors, subjects, and objects. Drawing upon established politico-economic schools of thought and synthesizing contemporary Russian experience, this study offers a conceptual overview of the theoretical foundations and methodological challenges involved in analyzing politico-administrative processes and systemic transformations, with a focus on modern Russia.