This study explores the formation and the characteristics of Latin American elites focusing on Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Chile. The reason why these four countries have been chosen for the study is not because they represent the region but because they are relatively the most significant countries in terms of their relation with Korea.  Therefore, what we found in this study regarding the formation and the characteristics of the elites are not duplicable to the other Latin American countries. Considering the importance of the topic as well as the diverse context of Latin America, the further research on elites in other Latin American countries will be important to foster more complex and comprehensive understanding of the elites in Latin America.
This study does not aim at establishing a new theory on Latin American elites. Rather, it practically approaches to the subject of elites in order to contribute to better relations between Latin America and Korea since the elites are such an important social actors. As a result, this study turns out to differ from recent development of elite studies literature which focuses on analyzing the impact of conflicts or cooperation among the elites on democratization process. 
Each case study shares the following structure. First, it analyzes the elite formation process. In order to comprehend the characteristics of the elites, the elite formation process is an important element to look at. The elite formation process is not just a simple historical fact yet it proves to determine the characteristics of today’s elites. Various historical factors such as the strength of colonial power, the role of local elites in independence, the existence of powerful regional elites in the process of nation building, the power of rural elites, the degree of diversification of elites result in different characteristics of elites in each country. Therefore, looking at the elite formation with emphasis on significant historical events, we tried to deepen our understanding of the characteristics of elites in each case. 
Second, we examine various sectors of the elite structure. As mentioned before, due to different historical formation, different sector of the elite in each country has different level of power. For example, in Chile and Peru, economic elites have stronger power among others, while political elites are relatively more predominant in Mexico and Brazil. Furthermore, when Mexico and Brazil, whose size  is rather big among Latin American countries, tend to have stronger local elites such as governors, relatively smaller countries in this study such as Peru and Chile turn out to form stronger elite concentration around each capital, Lima and Santiago, respectively. In Peru, the military elite maintains its power to some extent while in Mexico the military does not form a part of power elite because of institutionalization of social conflicts. Chile, which appears to have a strongly unified elites, tends to have powerful media elites which play a major role in national politics with its economic as well as political power. However, Peruvian as well as Brazilian media did not grow into such power. In case of religious elites, Peru and Chile where the society in general is socially conservative posses relatively more powerful religious elites than Mexico and Brazil.
Such diversity in Latin American elites led us to focus this study on specific elite groups depending on each country’s context instead of researching same groups in each case. Political elites and economic elites were commonly discussed in each case while military elites, media elites and religious elites were chosen depending on its significance in the case. This approach is appropriate for the study because its purpose is to explore the characteristics of those who have power in the policy making process from power elite perspective.
Finally, this study surveys how elites act to realize their interests. We analyzed Chilean case, which seems to have unified elites, in terms of how the unity could be maintains by looking at their recruiting methods, their religious conservatism, and their strategy of alliance. In Peruvian case, this study scrutinizes the power relations among principal elite groups such as economic elites, political elites and military elites. In addition, the interactions among the elites were carefully analyzed in order to verify their style of governing. Meanwhile, Brazilian case, where we can find rather more diversified elites, gave us insights on how power has been shared among different sectors of elites. Mexico, which also appears to have a more diversified elites, elucidates how different sectors of elites could acquire governance by internal integration.
As a result, this study contributes to more comprehensive understanding of Latin American elites by looking at their historical formation process, their characteristics as well as current status of their power structure. Therefore, this study offers a base for future researches on Latin American elites as well as politics of the region in general.  It also provides a practical knowledge on the elites in Latin America who play a significant role in the relation between Korea and Latin America. 

국문요약 

제1장 서 론 

제2장 칠레 엘리트 집단의 형성과 특징 
1. 서론 
2. 칠레 엘리트의 형성 
3. 현재 칠레 엘리트 그룹의 구성 
4. 칠레 엘리트의 특징과 통치 방식 
5. 결론 

제3장 페루 엘리트 집단의 형성과 특징 
1. 서론 
2. 페루 엘리트 집단의 형성 과정 
3. 페루 엘리트 집단의 구성 
4. 페루 엘리트 집단의 특징과 통치 방식 
5. 결론 

제4장 브라질 엘리트 집단의 형성과 특징 
1. 서론 
2. 브라질 엘리트 집단의 형성과 변화 
3. 현 단계 브라질 엘리트 집단의 구성 
4. 브라질 엘리트 집단의 지배연합과 통치방식 
5. 결론 

제5장 멕시코 엘리트 집단의 형성과 특징 
1. 서론 
2. 멕시코 엘리트 집단의 형성과정 
3. 멕시코 엘리트 집단의 구성과 특징 
4. 멕시코 엘리트 집단의 특징과 통치방식 
5. 결론 

제6장 결론 및 시사점 
1. 각국 엘리트 특성에 대한 비교 평가 
2. 한국에 대한 시사점 

참고문헌 

Executive Summary