Era of typical Soviet and post-Soviet directors is coming to an end. Interview.

Abstract

In January 2019, the Laboratory of Socio-Political Communications of the Institute of Philosophy and Law (Ural Branch of RAS) published a report on the situation in the gubernatorial elections in the Chelyabinsk region. The report made a forecast of a probable resignation of Boris Dubrovsky, the sitting governor. A few months later Dubrovsky resigned his office voluntarily, and President Vladimir Putin appointed Alexei Texler acting governor.

In recent years, the report perhaps has become the only study representing public expertise which described how the situation in the region could develop. However, little was known about the study outside the Urals. The Chief Editor of the “Monitoring of Public Opinion” decided to talk to the author of the report about how the report was prepared. The interview was mainly focused on a need for public expertise, the value of prognostic research, the problems of regional expert communities and the benefits of the Chelyabinsk case for Russia in general.