In interview Roald Sagdeev — Chief Researcher at the SRI, professor at the University of Maryland, NASA expert, using the unique experience of living and working in very different countries — the Soviet Union, America and Russia, compares their academic systems and creates the image of ideal science.

The XX Congress of the Communist Party triggered the process of returning to society the names and works of those who had been cut off by Bolshevism, the GULAG or forced emigration from their motherland, for the sake of which they worked. In the present article the authors tell the story of life, friendship and scientific activities of two Russian scientists, whose work received both international attention and international recognition. The first – Pitirim Sorokin, Russian-American sociologist and culture specialist, one of the founders of the theory of social stratification and social mobility. The second – Nikolay Kondratyev, Russian and Soviet economist, founder of business cycles theory, the author of “Kondratyev’s five-year plan”.

Knowledge and Professional Competence — the Most Important Competitive Advantage.

The subjectlessness has affected in varying degree all the major players of the modernization process (state, public and political communities, social institutions).