Russian Basic Science: Changes Since the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Impact of International Support

摘要SES 02-17597俄罗斯基础科学：苏联解体以来的变化和国际支持的影响从戈尔巴乔夫出现到苏联解体到现在，俄罗斯科学的故事是非常戏剧性的，但这个故事的细节鲜为人知--即使在俄罗斯也是如此。没有对这些事件的总体描述和对其后果的分析。在短短几年内，世界上最大、最令人印象深刻的科学机构之一几乎倒闭。联邦科学预算大幅削减至之前的20%，再加上数千名最有才华的科学家的离开，对俄罗斯科学造成了如此严重的损害，以至于一些观察人士预测，俄罗斯科学将会死亡。我们现在知道这一预测是不正确的；俄罗斯科学幸存了下来，复苏的初步迹象是显而易见的。然而，在过渡时期，人们已经清楚地看到，新俄罗斯继承的苏联形式的研究组织和资金不适合大多数俄罗斯公民所希望的民主和自由社会。因此，俄罗斯科学的财政支持和组织原则要么发生了变化，要么受到了严重挑战。本提案描述和分析了这些变化，包括外国基金会施加的重要影响，这些基金会积极支持俄罗斯科学，在此过程中加强了同行裁判和公开竞争的新原则。PI将在俄罗斯的Irina Dezhina工作，利用档案研究、统计数据分析、采访、学术出版物和基金会和政府组织的报告，在最近俄罗斯科学危机的历史、政治和经济层面讲述这个故事。他们努力的成果将是关于俄罗斯科学近代史和当前政策的文章和一本书。这些出版物不仅应该引起历史学家和科学政策专家的兴趣，而且应该引起世界各地受过教育的人的兴趣，因为正在考虑的几个问题是普遍感兴趣的：当科学从威权社会过渡到民主社会时，它应该如何改变？什么样的组织结构最能促进研究和教学的卓越？外国模式的哪些方面应该被效仿，应该在多大程度上效仿？

Abstract SES 02-17597Russian Basic Science: Changes Since the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Impact of International Support Loren Graham, MITThe story of Russian science from the time of the advent of Gorbachev through the collapse of the Soviet Union and on to the present is a very dramatic one, but the details of that story are poorly known -- even in Russia. There is no overall description of these events and an analysis of their consequences. In just a few years one of the largest and most impressive scientific establishments in the world nearly collapsed. The combination of a slashing of the federal science budget to 20 percent of what it was before and the departure of thousands of the most talented scientists damaged Russian science so seriously that some observers predicted "the death of Russian science." We now know that this prediction was incorrect; Russian science has survived and the first signs of recovery are evident. However, during the transition period it has become clear that the Soviet forms of the organization and financing of research inherited by the new Russia are inappropriate for the democratic and free society that is the hope of most Russian citizens. As a result the financial supports and organizational principles of Russian science have either changed or been seriously challenged. This proposal describes and analyzes these changes, including the important influences exercised by foreign foundations that have become active in supporting Russian science, strengthening, in the process, new principles of peer refereeing and open competition. The PI will work Irina Dezhina in Russia, using archival research, statistical data analysis, interviews, and scholarly publications and reports of foundations and government organizations to tell this story within a context of the historical, political, and economic dimensions of the recent crisis of Russian science.The product of their efforts will be articles and a book on the recent history and current policies of Russian science. These publications should interest not only to historians and science policy specialists, but educated people everywhere, since several of the questions being considered are of general interest: How should science change when it makes the transition from being in an authoritarian society to a democratic one? What organizational structures best promote excellence in research and teaching? Which aspects of foreign models should be followed and how closely?