Interaction of government, scientific and expert community: Prospects of evidence-based policy in Russia

Abstract

This article analyzes the interaction of state, scientific, and expert communities in order to determine the prospects for introducing the methods of “evidence-based policy” into the Russian practice of public administration. It reveals to what extent the representatives of the state and expert communities are ready to cooperate to increase the scientific validity of government decisions. Research was carried out by using focused interviews. The purposive sample included public authorities and representatives of scientific, expert, and educational communities from ten regions of Russia. In general, both public servants and representatives of scientific and expert communities realize the significance of using evidence-based policy tools for developing government decisions. However, the mutual expectations that are formed can hardly be called harmonious due to a fair amount of skepticism on both sides. A significant number of public servants doubt that scientific knowledge of social, economic, and political processes is objective, and some are afraid that scientists will introduce their value preferences into analytical materials. The representatives of scientific community, in their turn, suspect decision-makers of being overly obsessed with a narrow circle of confidants, of misunderstanding of the role of analytics in the development of public policy, and an inability to appreciate the work done by expert scientists. Lack of mutual trust is the main reason for the skeptical attitude of decision-makers to cooperate with the scientific and expert community and pushes them either to maintain contacts with proven analytical centers, as a rule, affiliated with the government, or forces them to rely solely on materials prepared by employees of the relevant state departments.