«An Expert must Strive to be Independent while Society should Support His Inspiration»

At the end of 2012 and the start of 2013, the Higher School of Economics and the Association of Russian Economic Think Tanks (ARETT) conducted a project devoted to modern conditions and trends in the development of think tanks as a significant segment of independent research in Russia and their roles in the formation of economic policy. In the frameworks of this project, the quantitative survey of 50 think tanks was enriched by a series of in-depth interviews with the heads of some of these organizations (ARETT members and nonmembers). In addition to the interviews, for better understanding of how think tanks and the expert community are seen by academic researchers, in January 2013 an interview with the President of the New Economic Association, Victor Polterovich was also conducted. Economic Sociology’s editorial staff consider the arguments offered by Victor Polterovich in this interview as important, not only to understand the evolution of think tanks but also for stimulating the development of Russian academic community. Economic Sociology’s editorial staff is much obliged to Victor Polterovich and Andrey Yakovlev (as team leader of the HSE-ARETT project) for the opportunity to publish the full text of this interview.