Is it possible to develop science without international cooperation? Review of the RIAC report “Novye gorizonty nauchnoi diplomatii v Rossii” [New Horizons of Science Diplomacy in Russia]

The review is devoted to the analysis of the report of the Russian International Affairs Council “New Horizons for Science Diplomacy in Russia”. Published in December 2020, the report focuses on the problems and prospects of development of science diplomacy in Russia. The report presents an analysis of the experience of using science diplomacy in Western countries (the USA, Great Britain and France), and presents a summary of domestic experience in this area. Given the poor study of the phenomenon of science diplomacy in Russia, the authors of the report provide a detailed overview of the situation in Russia and the world,expose the shortcomings of policy in this area with arguments, and, based on an analysis of global experience, offer a set of recommendations for the development of science diplomacy in modern Russia. At the same time, the report contains a number of gaps that require deeper analysis. Thus, there is no analysis of the experience of developing countries, such as China or India; the role of such a public authority as the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the implementation of science diplomacy in Russia is not studied enough; some of the authors’ proposals on the development of science diplomacy do not look well-reasoned.