Russia's Political Culture in Transformation

Study Course Description

Course Description Statuss:Approved

Course Description Version:1.00

Study Course Accepted:22.02.2024 11:17:10

Study Course Information
Course Code:		SZF_042		LQF level:		Level 7
Credit Points:		2.00		ECTS:		3.00
Branch of Science:		Politics		Target Audience:		Political Science
Study Course Supervisor
Course Supervisor:		Deniss Hanovs
Study Course Implementer
Structural Unit:		Faculty of Social Sciences
The Head of Structural Unit:
Contacts:		Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szfrsu[pnkts]lv
Study Course Planning
Full-Time - Semester No.1
Lectures (count)		8	Lecture Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Lectures		16
Classes (count)		6	Class Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Classes		12
Total Contact Hours								28
Part-Time - Semester No.1
Lectures (count)		8	Lecture Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Lectures		16
Classes (count)		6	Class Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Classes		12
Total Contact Hours								28
Study course description
Preliminary Knowledge:
General knowledge of Russian political culture and society in the scope of a bachelor's program. If there is knowledge of the Russian language, students will be able to read original texts about the 19th century. Russian political philosophy and share with other students in discussions.
Objective:
To provide students with the knowledge of the transformation of political culture in Russia within last 300 years, to foster common debates on elements of political culture, to provide insight into the definition of political culture within the paradigm of cultural studies, which imply that Russian political culture is shaped by various elements of culture, such as arts, literature, religion. During the course students will be offered a chance to combine their knowledge of politics with new theoretical views and methods from cultural studies. The course consists of three parts: 1. General theoretical paradigms of cultural studies and political culture; Cultural turns in political science will be explained and reflected upon together with students 2. The development of Russia`s political culture and history, since the beginning of the 17th century; 3. The framing of political culture – the influence of various sectors of political culture.
Topic Layout (Full-Time)
No.	Topic			Type of Implementation		Number	Venue
1	The notion of political culture and its place in the theory of culture			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
2	The notion of transformation in the concept of fluid modernity (Z. Bauman)			Classes		1.00	auditorium
3	How to analyze culture? Findings of cultural turns (interpretive turn)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
4	Postcolonial turn and performative turn in the analysis of political transformations			Classes		1.00	auditorium
5	The Concept of Collective Memories and the Politics of History: From Cultural Theory to Geopolitics?			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
6	Analysis of cultural processes: case studies from Russia's contemporary political discourse in the media (by student-chosen topics: democracy, state, minorities, pluralism, state president, geopolitical priorities, construction of collective memories)			Classes		0.50	auditorium
7	East? The West? The third room? Basic trends and contexts of transformation in Russian history			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
8	The interaction of feudalism and absolutism in the transformations of the Moscow state in the 17th century. The image of Ivan Barga in Russian modernist cinema. Symbolic politics of the Romanov dynasty			Classes		0.50	auditorium
9	Westernization politics of Russian rulers in the early phase of the 18th century. Politics of Peter I in Europe			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
10	The Discourse of Empire in Russian Political Culture. Semiotic interaction between Byzantium and Western Rome in the image of Russian rulers. Catherine II's Constantinople project and its role in political culture			Classes		0.50	auditorium
11	Enlightenment Discourse in Russia. Diderot's and Voltaire's views on Russian society in the discourse of civilization			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
12	Nationalism in Russia. Empire and the nation in the nationalism discourse. Ethnic minorities			Lectures		0.50	auditorium
13	Liberalism in Russia in the 19th century. Westerners and slavophiles ideology			Classes		0.50	auditorium
14	The factor of religious culture: images of Orthodoxy and Byzantine emperors in the formation of the political vertical			Lectures		0.50	auditorium
15	Russian religious philosophy and geopolitics. Leontiev's concept. Russian geopolitics in the postcolonial paradigm			Classes		0.50	auditorium
16	Russian literature as a space of dissidence. Dialogue with power. From Radishev to Dovlatov			Lectures		0.50	auditorium
17	The concept of monarchy in the political culture. The Romanovs and images of Soviet leaders. Putin and iconography of a ruler			Classes		0.50	auditorium
18	Revolution and terror. 1917. Bolsheviks universalism and Stalin`s national bolshevism in the imperial discourse			Lectures		0.50
19	Traumatic collective experience and the politics of memory. War, disaster and victory			Classes		0.50	auditorium
20	Democracy, Western politics and neo national movement. Entertainment culture and geopolitics			Classes		0.50	auditorium
Topic Layout (Part-Time)
No.	Topic			Type of Implementation		Number	Venue
1	The notion of political culture and its place in the theory of culture			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
2	The notion of transformation in the concept of fluid modernity (Z. Bauman)			Classes		1.00	auditorium
3	How to analyze culture? Findings of cultural turns (interpretive turn)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
4	Postcolonial turn and performative turn in the analysis of political transformations			Classes		1.00	auditorium
5	The Concept of Collective Memories and the Politics of History: From Cultural Theory to Geopolitics?			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
6	Analysis of cultural processes: case studies from Russia's contemporary political discourse in the media (by student-chosen topics: democracy, state, minorities, pluralism, state president, geopolitical priorities, construction of collective memories)			Classes		0.50	auditorium
7	East? The West? The third room? Basic trends and contexts of transformation in Russian history			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
8	The interaction of feudalism and absolutism in the transformations of the Moscow state in the 17th century. The image of Ivan Barga in Russian modernist cinema. Symbolic politics of the Romanov dynasty			Classes		0.50	auditorium
9	Westernization politics of Russian rulers in the early phase of the 18th century. Politics of Peter I in Europe			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
10	The Discourse of Empire in Russian Political Culture. Semiotic interaction between Byzantium and Western Rome in the image of Russian rulers. Catherine II's Constantinople project and its role in political culture			Classes		0.50	auditorium
11	Enlightenment Discourse in Russia. Diderot's and Voltaire's views on Russian society in the discourse of civilization			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
12	Nationalism in Russia. Empire and the nation in the nationalism discourse. Ethnic minorities			Lectures		0.50	auditorium
13	Liberalism in Russia in the 19th century. Westerners and slavophiles ideology			Classes		0.50	auditorium
14	The factor of religious culture: images of Orthodoxy and Byzantine emperors in the formation of the political vertical			Lectures		0.50	auditorium
15	Russian religious philosophy and geopolitics. Leontiev's concept. Russian geopolitics in the postcolonial paradigm			Classes		0.50	auditorium
16	Russian literature as a space of dissidence. Dialogue with power. From Radishev to Dovlatov			Lectures		0.50	auditorium
17	The concept of monarchy in the political culture. The Romanovs and images of Soviet leaders. Putin and iconography of a ruler			Classes		0.50	auditorium
18	Revolution and terror. 1917. Bolsheviks universalism and Stalin`s national bolshevism in the imperial discourse			Lectures		0.50	auditorium
19	Traumatic collective experience and the politics of memory. War, disaster and victory			Classes		0.50	auditorium
20	Democracy, Western politics and neo national movement. Entertainment culture and geopolitics			Classes		0.50	auditorium
Assessment
Unaided Work:
The knowledge acquired in the course is tested during seminars, discussions on selected texts. Skills are acquired and evaluated by creating reports on course topics, submitting reports in e-studies. In the final examination, the student presents his / her report and participates in a discussion with colleagues on the problem issue analyzed in the report. In order to evaluate the quality of the study course as a whole, the student must fill out the study course evaluation questionnaire on the Student Portal.
Assessment Criteria:
• Participation in the seminar on the selected course literature (min. 50 pages from the e-learning catalog) makes up 40% of the final course evaluation. • Execution of independent work tasks in the form of a report – 40% of the final assessment. • The exam assesses the student's ability to participate in a discussion of the results of the report – 20% of the final assessment of the course.
Final Examination (Full-Time):		Exam (Written)
Final Examination (Part-Time):		Exam (Written)
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:		Students will explain the stages of the development of Russian political culture. Students will describe the most important stages of the transformation of Russian political culture and the dynamics of their development over the last 300 years. Students will distinguish the concepts of cultural theories from the concepts and principles of political culture, as well as compare them.
Skills:		Students will independently analyze texts on the development of Russian political culture over the past 300 years, critically selecting sources of information, presenting their conclusions and answering questions during seminars. Students will explain the dynamics of Russian political culture transformation in an argumentative and in-depth way and anticipate the development trends of Russian political culture in the perspective.
Competencies:		Students will develop research based on interdisciplinary scientific literature, combining theoretical concepts of cultural and political science and applying them in the study of empirical elements. Students will interpret the assumptions made in theoretical knowledge in the context of Russia's current transformation processes.
Bibliography
No.	Reference
Required Reading
1	Visa literatūra ir angļu valodā un piemērota gan latviešu, gan angļu plūsmas studentiem
2	Susanne A. Wengle (2022). (Editor). Russian Politics Today New Edition. Cambridge University press.
3	Neil Robinson. (2017). Russian Neo-patrimonialism and Putin’s ‘Cultural Turn’ In: EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES. Vol. 69, No. 2, March, pp. 348–366
4	Hanovs D., Gubenko I. (eds.). (2018). Memory – access denied? Political landscapes of memory and inclusion in contemporary Europe. Versions, tendencies and analytical novelties. Riga: Zinatne, 2018. – pp. 95-115
5	Kelly O` Neill. (2017). Claiming Crimea: A History of Catherine the Great`s Southern Empire. Yale University Press: London.
6	Gubenko I., Hanovs D., Malahovskis V. (eds.). (2016). The New Heroes. The Old Victims. Politics of memory in Russia and the Baltics. Riga: Zinatne.
7	Candida Yates. (2015). The Play of Political Culture, Emotion and Identity. Palgrave Macmillan: London.
8	Stephen Welch. (2013). The Theory of Political Culture. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
9	Stephanie Lawson. (2011). Cosmopolitan Pluralism: Beyond the Cultural Turn. In: Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal, Vol.3, No.3. pp. 27-46.
10	Jarmo Kotilaine and Marshall Poe (eds.) (2004.) Modernizing Muscovy. Reform and social change in seventeenth-century Russia. RoutledgeCurzon: London.
11	Paul Bushkovitsch. (2004). Peter the Great. The Struggle for Power, 1671-1725. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
12	Alexei Miller. (2008). The Romanov Empire and Nationalism. Essays in the methodology of historical research. CEU Press: New York.
13	Robert A. Segal. (2012). Clifford Geertz’s Interpretive Approach to Religion. In: Religion Compass 6/12, pp. 511–524.
14	Ben White. (2007). Clifford Geertz: Singular Genius of Interpretive Anthropology. In: Development and Change 38(6), pp. 1187–1208
15	Robert van Voren. (2009). On Dissidents and Madness. From The Soviet Union of Leonid Brezhnev to the “Soviet Union” of Vladimir Putin. Rodopi: New York.
16	Anandam Kavoori and Kalyani Chadha. (2009). The Cultural Turn in International Communication. In:Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media/June, pp. 336-346.
Additional Reading
1	Deniss Hanovs (2023). Baltic Nations in Soviet Dissident Literature: The Compromise by Sergei Dovlatov. Letonica, 51, pp. 97-119.
2	Michael Haynes and Rumy Husan. (2003). A Century of State Murder? Death and Policy in Twentieth-Century Russia. Pluto Press: London.
3	Sheila Fitzpatrick. (2000). Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
4	Robert Horvath. (2005). The Legacy of Soviet Dissent. Dissidents, democratisation and radical nationalism in Russia. Routledge: London.
5	Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea (eds.) (2013). Interpretation and Method Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn. M.E.Sharpe: Armonk, New York
6	Alexander Polunov. (2005). Russia in the Nineteenth century: Autocracy, Reform, and Social Change, 1814-1914. M.E.Sharpe: Armonk, New York
7	David R. Marples. (2014). Motherland Russia in the 20th Century. Pearson Education Limited: London.
8	Victoria E. Bonnell, Lynn Hunt. (eds.) (1999). Beyond the Cultural Turn. New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture.University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles.
9	Patrick Brantlinger. (2002). A Response to Beyond the Cultural Turn. In: American Historical Review, pp. 1500-1511.
10	Richard Handler. (2002). Cultural Theory in History Today. In: American Historical Review December, pp. 1512-1520.
11	Zygmunt Bauman. Liquid modernity. (2000). Polity: London.
Other Information Sources
1	International Journal of Cultural studies
2	The International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society