FUNDAMENTAL REORGANIZATION IN SCIENTIFIC ADMINISTRATION - THE KHOZRASCHET INITIATIVE IN RUSSIAN APPLIED SCIENCE

The system of science in the former Soviet Union was based an a comman d administration that centralized decision making at government minist ries. In. 1987, the government introduced the new system of khozrasche t, or accountability, granting a greater degree of administrative free dom to research institutes but obligating them to take responsibility for financing their. activities In a 1991 survey, scientists at three Moscow research and development institutes expressed a high degree of support for the administrative changes. The study of the three institu tes revealed that major structural alterations had already taken place . By the beginning of 1996, many of the expectations for improved cond itions had not been fulfilled, as a high degree of instability became evident in the Russian scientific system The Russian example demonstra tes the need for balance in institutional arrangements to advance scie nce: change must provide solutions to all system problems or else subs tantial damage can be done to the scientific enterprise.