expert knowledge

The practice of implementation expert and scientific knowledge in the process of making political decisions has been formed for centuries and now it is well known as a social and political institution – think tanks. The capacity of think tanks can be analyzed from diff erent aspects. In this article the author refers to the institutional structure of think tanks and analyzes the fi nancial and legislative support of these organizations in Russia and the United States.

Under the conditions of social processes’ transformation based on technology development, on unlimited access to information and on rising the speed of social time, there is a need of changing the approaches in governance both on federal and regional levels. There is a public demand for transparency, social expertise and wide coverage at all stages of decision making process. This kind of public request could be granted by involving independent experts at various stages of governance.

The article refers to the works of O. N. Yanitskiy, Zh. T. Toschenko and S. A. Kravchenko that are focused on modern world social processes, particularly in modern Russia. The purpose of the article is to identify the general and specific views of modern Russian sociologists on the role of scientific knowledge in developing Russian society. The importance of scientific knowledge in the political processes (O. N. Yanitskiy), in the process of developing and implementing the national government strategy (Zh. T.