The text dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Russian Political Science Association is devotedto the genesis, mission and role of this organization in the context of political development of the pastdecades and current trends in the evolution of modern politics. The key threats the modern political scienceis facing are divided into two main sets. The first one includes relations of political science and politicalpractice, or how global and local challenges shape the modern social knowledge. The second set includesdevelopment issues of the discipline: correlation of the world science mainstream with the agenda andconfiguration of Russian political science; dichotomy of the foundations of political science – theoretic,conceptual and imperatively pluralistic; conjugation of fundamental and applied areas and their thematiccontent; comparative analysis of the effectiveness of research strategies and methods; the relevance of theapplied performance evaluation system of scientific activity in political science. The importance of politicalscience today is determined, in the author’s opinion, by the fact that the dominant feature of the current era (post-modern in its essence) has become the compound symbiosis of politics and economics. Ideas, ideals, interests and technologies of their conjugation constitute the subject of political science. In terms of the second law of thermodynamics, political science is an institutional tool against irreversible dissipation ofsocial energy. The complexity of political science in this case is that is operates with patterns of probabilitycharacter, most of which are applicable only in a short time perspective. This, in the author’s opinion,determines the need for constant self-reflection of the discipline, which does represent the mission of RPSAand its social function – to create the formats and provide for stability of professional communication.The author examines the formats and technologies of implementation of RPSA’s social function asa significant civil society institution which continues to form its identity in the context of qualitative increasein complexity of social changes and domination of nonlinear processes.