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Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia

This presentation discusses the recent trends and challenges in the development of social science disciplines in Russia, focusing on political science. It examines factors such as ideological atmosphere, institutional changes, funding policies, and generational shifts. Despite some positive developments, the field faces under-funding, under-payment of researchers, teaching overload, and an anti-Western turn. The case studies of Higher School of Economics and European University at St. Petersburg provide insights into the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to social science in Russia.

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Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia

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  1. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia Vladimir Gel’man (Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki / EUSP) Aleksanteri Institute board meeting, 7 June 2017

  2. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia • Presentation – on the basis of my recent article, Political Science in Russia: Scholarship without Research? (European Political Science, 2015, vol.14, No.1); • More on political science than on other social science disciplines (economics, sociology, anthropology, etc.) but trends are somewhat similar across disciplines; • Controversial and uneven developments after the Soviet collapse – effects of (1) ideational atmosphere; (2) institutional changes; (3) organizational environment and funding policies; (4) generational changes • Overall, trends of two last decades are more or less positive but there are major challenges and bumps on the road

  3. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia • Perestroika as a point of departure for social sciences in Russia – official recognition of new and/or major rebranding of previously existed disciplines after the end of Communist monopoly; • Dismantling the Iron Curtain, exposing to new ideas, theories and methods, emergence of new research teams (such as Levada-Center and CISR); • Old wine into new bottles – effects of legacy of Soviet scholarship? • Disjuncture between research (Academy of Science) and teaching (universities) – no reorganization, parallel paths of development; • Role of social scientists – not as empirical researchers but rather as proponents of whatever worldviews and visions (effects of “scholarship without research”)

  4. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia • Negative effects of under-funding of scholarship in Russia in all disciplines (decline of state funding after the Soviet collapse, Western funds had an important yet limited impact until mid-2000s, and then left Russia); • Negative effects of under-payment of researchers and university teachers in Russia (Altbach et al., 2012) – Russian professors of state universities rated as second-worst-paid among 28 countries at the globe; • Negative effects of teaching overload (state required up to 900 hours of oral teaching for university lecturers, no time for research), and of over-bureaucratization of higher education amid increasing state control

  5. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia • BUT! – higher education declared as top priority of state leaders, and funding poured to scholarship (including social science) increased in the 2000s and early 2010s; • Federal and national research universities, “5-100” state program, promotion of Web of Science and Scopus journal publications (including advancement of Russian scholarly journals); • The rise of international scholarly collaboration beyond asymmetry of data gathering (mega-grants as Russian equivalent of FiDiPro: Inglehart’s laboratory and other projects); • Some remarkable achievements among Russian economists (Guriev, Sonin, etc.), political scientists (Golosov) – poles of growth?

  6. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia • An anti-Western turn (especially after 2014) greatly hit social science in Russia: • Campaign against “foreign agents” (Levada-Center, CISR) and “unwanted” foreign donors (Soros foundation); • Changing ideational atmosphere in society – rising state’s demand for loyalty, perceived role of social scientists similarly to those in the late Soviet Union, taboo on public discussions about certain topics and approaches – many controversies among scholars; • A new “brain drain” of Russian social scientists? • What next?

  7. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia Case study 1 – Higher School of Economics (HSE); Established in 1992 under auspices of Gaidar’s team as a venue of training for new generations of economists; Yaroslav Kuzminov’s leadership: building of organization and of networks (HSE as major think tank for the Russian government); Now HSE is one of the largest Russia’s universities with campuses in Moscow, St.Petersburg, Perm and Nizhny Novgorod, large funding, and real advancements in some disciplines; Advantages and disadvantages of HSE as a “pocket of efficiency” (is “too big to fail” the best strategy?)

  8. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia Case study 2 – European University at St.Petersburg (EUSP); A non-state graduate school in social science and humanities (history, anthropology, economics, political science, sociology, art history, philosophy); Most international among Russia’s universities, international programs in Russian and Eurasian studies; Initial funding by Western donors was replaced by domestic sources, building of an endowment; Vicious attacks from the state – attempts to revoke educational license and eject from the building: ongoing court battles (next rounds are expected in July 2017)

  9. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia Case study 3 – Perm State University One of the few “success stories” in building of political science in Russia’s provincial universities; Organizational background in modern general history (NOT in Marxism-Leninism); Critical mass of established and emerging scholars, efficient leadership and support; Center of Comparative History and Political Studies – a new pole of growth? … and what next?

  10. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia New developments: Generational changes among social scientists – the rise of post-Soviet generation, better trained and equipped (any room for academic job market and mobility?) The gradual rise of new Russian academic diaspora in social sciences in the West (economists come first, other disciplines follows) – Finland as an example? Limited chances to expand new horizons set up by ”pockets of efficiency” such as HSE – the number of strong universities in Russia (especially in social science) is likely to be limited; Challenges of authoritarianism and isolationalism in Russia

  11. Recent Trends in Development of Social Science in Russia Comments are welcomed! (vladimir.gelman@helsinki.fi)

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