Bachelor 2020/2021

Multiple Modernities: Social and Political Processes in BRICS Countries

Type: Elective course (Political Science and World Politics)

Area of studies: Political Science

Delivered by: Department of Political Science and International Affairs

Where: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences

When: 4 year, 1, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Mikhail Maslovskiy

Language: English

ECTS credits: 4

Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course provides knowledge on social foundations of political institutions and processes, social movements and political culture, sociology of international relations. The course presents a comparative perspective on social and political processes in Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

Learning Objectives

• The aim of the course is to acquaint the students with the multiple modernities approach in political sociology and its application to BRICS countries

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Able to learn and demonstrate skills in the field, other than the major field
• Able to identify scientific subject
• Able to think critically and interpret the experience (personal and of other persons), relate to professional and social activities
• Student is capable of executing applied analysis of the political phenomena and political processes - by using political science methods - and in support of practical decision making process

Course Contents

• The multiple modernities approach in political sociology
• Formation of Latin American modernity: the case of Brazil
• Communism as alternative modernity in the USSR and China
• Civilizational state? A comparative perspective on post-Soviet Russia
• Democratization processes in BRICS countries: a multiple modernities perspective

Assessment Elements

• Class activities
  Students’ progress is evaluated at seminar discussions. This component is calculated as an average grade achieved at the seminars.
• Presentation
• Essay
  Each student is supposed to write an essay. The essay is to be submitted no later than 2 weeks before the final class.
• Examination
  The final examination is organized in a test form.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.25 * Class activities + 0.25 * Essay + 0.25 * Examination + 0.25 * Presentation

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Eisenstadt, S. N. (2002). The Civilizations of the Americas: The Crystallization of Distinct Modernities. Comparative Sociology, 1(1), 43–61. https://doi.org/10.1163/156913202317346746
• Spohn, W. (2010). Political Sociology: Between Civilizations and Modernities; A Multiple Modernities Perspective. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F61CB85C
• Tsygankov, A. (2016). Crafting the State-Civilization Vladimir Putin’s Turn to Distinct Values. Problems of Post-Communism, 63(3), 146–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2015.1113884

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Curanović, A. (2019). Russia’s Mission in the World: The Perspective of the Russian Orthodox Church. Problems of Post-Communism, 66(4), 253–267. https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2018.1530940
• Delanty, G. (2015). Europe in world regional perspective: formations of modernity and major historical transformations. British Journal of Sociology, 66(3), 420–440. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12144
• Dirlik, A. (2002). Modernity as history: post-revolutionary China, globalization and the question of modernity. Social History, 27(1), 16–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071020110094183
• Hunter, W., & Power, T. J. (2019). Bolsonaro and Brazil’s Illiberal Backlash. Journal of Democracy, 30(1), 68–82.
• Katzenstein, P. J., & Weygandt, N. (2017). Mapping Eurasia in an Open World: How the Insularity of Russia’s Geopolitical and Civilizational Approaches Limits Its Foreign Policies. https://doi.org/10.1017/s153759271700010x
• Martin Lipset, & Seymour Martin Lipset. (1994). The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.C37E972B
• Maslovskiy, M. (2016). The Imperial Dimension of Russian Modernisation: A Multiple Modernities Perspective. Europe-Asia Studies, 68(1), 20–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2015.1116498
• Melo, M. A. (2016). Crisis and Integrity in Brazil. Journal of Democracy, 27(2), 50–65. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2016.0019
• Smith, J. (2009). Civilisational analysis and intercultural models of American societies. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256860903003559
• Smith, J. (2010). The many Americas: Civilization and modernity in the Atlantic world. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431009355863