Victor Sergeev, born in Moscow, Russia, in 1944. Ph.D. from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Professor of Comparative Politics at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations and Professor of Political Science at the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow.
Fellow (1 February 2006 – 30 June 2006)
OBSTACLES TO DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION
The main goal of my studies at NIAS was to write a book on the politics of innovation. The preliminary title is “Social Instabilities and innovations”. It is rather obvious, that in rapidly changing world the creation and proliferation of innovations should be a central issue in social sciences. In fact, a huge body of literature has been written dealing with the diffusion of innovations (usually on small scale), the history and cognitive aspects of technological inventions and scientific discoveries, the problems of marketing of new products and so on. Nevertheless the striking fact is that very few studies have been devoted to the politics of innovation.
It is clear that problems such as implementation of democratic institutions, different aspects of modernization of traditional societies and societies in transition are at the centre of attention but political scientists are reluctant to consider these problems from the point of view of innovation theory. My main task during my stay in NIAS was to fill, at least partially this gap. The expected outcomes were the answers to such questions as: why in certain societies the implementation of institutions of the modern state is a relative success, but in others the same strategies led to a total failure and even to the situation of “failed state”?
My book is divided into two parts: part I: Theory of innovation, and part II: Social stability and innovations. The final text will be both in Russian and in English.