DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.134-141

On February 19–20, 2021 at the Orel State University named after I.S. Turgenev with the support of the Government of the Oryol Region and the Center for Strategic Initiatives “Co-society”, the first International Scientific and Practical Conference “Image of the Future” was held.

Vision of the future is an integral part of life of both an individual and society as a whole. Fear of the future or hopes for it, confidence in the possibility of influencing the perspective configuration, interest in what awaits us ahead or indifference to tomorrow — all this enters in social reality that surrounds us. Today’s decisions and actions depend on how tomorrow is seen. The image of the future is a form of the presence of the future in the present, research interest in it is due not to the desire to find out what tomorrow will be, but to the desire to identify the options for the possibilities of the present.

Despite the noticeable presence of the “image of the future” word combination in journalistic and scientific discourse of modern Russia, national studies of this phenomenon are just beginning. The goal, set by the conference organizers, was to unite and coordinate research on the image of the future both at the level of theoretical and methodological developments, and in the study of practical aspects related to functioning of individual and collective images of the future, their influence on current social reality

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.5

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.6-15

Increased interest in China is due not only to its successes in combating the pandemic — the PRC is the only major country in the world that has managed to maintain a positive economic growth dynamics. Moreover, more than 40 years of successful reforms certainly make the Chinese experience deserving special attention and study. The present article analyzes the spatial development of China over the past decades, which in addition to a component purely economically measured by percentage of GDP growth of the country and individual regions, has got important social, demographic, cultural, historical and ethnic components

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.16-21

The Spatial Development Strategy (Strategy) needs a radical overhaul, and the priority actions should detail the promising economic specializations of the Russian regions. Methodological and substantive gaps are actively discussed by analysts and the academic community. At the same time, the fact of the absence of one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation dropped out of account, and therefore, the detailed elaboration of promising activities contains only 84 out of 85 regions. In the presented study, a quantitative analysis of promising economic specializations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation was made based on a comparison of the Strategy data with the NACE. There is given a constructive criticism of the applied system for identifying the industry specialization of the subjects of the Russian Federation based on the NACE’ approach. There are done recommendations on primary measures in identifying the industry specialization of the Russian state. The results of the study confirm the need for a radical revision of the classification of industry specialization of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.22-37

Russia faces a critical choice. The world civilizational shift objectively determines the new roles of the individual, society, state and new models of their relationships and mutual influences. The digital citizen and the digital society are becoming the main factors of success in achieving national strategic goals, the balance of individual and social development forms the social order of the 21st century in Russia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.38-44

The state’s responsibility for development of social infrastructure has not been questioned by modern Russian and foreign economists for many years. An indicator of implementing the national goals of the Russian Federation development for the period up to 2030 is not only an increase in life expectancy up to 78 years, but also a half reduction in the poverty level compared to indicator of 2017 [1], which points out the need not only to ensure additional income for the elderly, but also to reduce their costs. In the context of limited budgetary opportunities, the state’s social policy is focused on developing commercial sector of social services and the sector of socially oriented NPOs that are not interested in development of capital-intensive infrastructure component at social tariffs. Private stationary facilities are targeted at wealthy people and are inaccessible to most elderly people who have to turn to the gray services market. Excessive commercialization has embraced even state-owned infrastructures, created or reconstructed through the mechanism of public-private partnership. This results in limited availability of public good and competition for access to it.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.45-51

The last five years in the Russian Federation have again been marked by serious concern in the context of the development of demographic processes. Today, leading demographers are talking about a second wave of depopulation. Despite all the efforts made by the government, it is not possible in the foreseeable future to eradicate the negative impact of the retrospective state of the landscape, established by historical changes, which affected, first of all, the age-sex structure of the population (regressive type for women).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.52-61

Alexander Nikolaevich Nesmeyanov, one of the most underestimated presidents of the Academy of Sciences, was a great originalminded scientist who opened up organoelement chemistry to the world as an independent science and later on — an artificial food, to which the world turns again after several decades. These milestones of his biography are well known to scientific community, as well as his leadership of Moscow State University during the new complex construction on the Lenin Hills, creation of INEOS and VINITI. 10-years period of his biography, when he was a President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, is much less known. It was in this position that he manifested enormous talent as an organizer of the country’s modern science management system, where the Academy of Sciences played an important role. Many thoughts and deeds of A.N. Nesmeyanov are especially relevant today.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.62-69

A step-by-step and objective review of the history of the State Planning Committee of the USSR (Gosplan), presented by the authors, helps to form a holistic idea of how the power of the USSR arose and what objective necessity or what subjective factors led to a radical change in the political and socio-economic structure of the country

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33917/es-2.176.2021.76-87

Alexander Nikolaevich Nesmeyanov, one of the most underestimated presidents of the Academy of Sciences, was a great originalminded scientist who opened up organoelement chemistry to the world as an independent science and later on — an artificial food, to which the world turns again after several decades. These milestones of his biography are well known to scientific community, as well as his leadership of Moscow State University during the new complex construction on the Lenin Hills, creation of INEOS and VINITI. 10-years period of his biography, when he was a President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, is much less known. It was in this position that he manifested enormous talent as an organizer of the country’s modern science management system, where the Academy of Sciences played an important role. Many thoughts and deeds of A.N. Nesmeyanov are especially relevant today.