The Russian Expert Community and Government: Models of Interaction and Performed Expert Functions

The article discusses the main forms of interaction between government institutions and the representatives of the expert community, as well as the preconditions for civil responsibility. The study, conducted in the period 2013–2018, includes 125 semi-structured interviews with experts from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian regions, the major part of whom held managing positions in government bodies at federal or regional level, or were employed in academic work at universities, or by non-governmental organizations. Ten focus group discussions were also conducted in the course of this research. The analysis of the interview texts was made using Werner J. Patzelt’s category scheme of content analysis and the QDAMinerLight program.Along with two previously known models of interaction between experts and governmental structures – the linear autonomic model and the model of virtuous reason, two new models are proposed. One is the paid result model, according to which remuneration may consist not only in money but also in the increased symbolic capital of the researcher employed to perform expertise. The other is the initiative expertise model, where projects for policy decisions are designed without the participation of governmental structures.