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Bachelor 2024/2025

Research Seminar “Civil and Political Processes” (2024/2025 academic year)

Type: Elective course (Sociology and Social Informatics)
Area of studies: Sociology
When: 4 year, 1-3 module
Mode of studies: offline
Open to: students of one campus
Instructors: Dmitry Arkatov
Language: English
ECTS credits: 3
Contact hours: 30

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This seminar offers a cross-disciplinary perspective on political power, institutions, civic movements, and their socio-cultural context. It draws mainly from sociology, political science, and cultural studies and will be most useful to students interested in how modern societies are organized and negotiated through politics, and how this can be studied. Key to this seminar is reading and discussing original research papers. As a result, the students will expand their knowledge of the subject and their skills of critical reading, participating in discussions, and writing short text with their arguments based on previous reading. The seminar starts with a discussion of politics and historical legacy in post-communist states, proceeding to modern nationalism and the analysis of governance and institutions during social change.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • The objectives of this seminar are to get the students acquainted with current research perspectives and techniques in political and civic processes and to train students' skills of academic speaking, reading, and writing.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • - to discuss current research perspectives and techniques in political and civic processes
  • - to explain the functions of elections across political regimes
  • - to explain how quality of governance is measured
  • - to discuss public participation across cultures
  • - to discuss policy making issues
  • - to know the basics of academic reading and writing, academic culture, and the variety of non-academic research output formats
  • - to know a variety of existing theories of nationalism, national identity and nation building
  • - to discuss problems of historical legacies
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Migration, minorities and diaspora
  • Nationalism and its strategies worldwide
  • Types of political regimes, measurements, indexes, basics of comparative politics
  • Political behavior, narratives and values across political regimes
  • Media and politics
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking In-class Participation
  • non-blocking Written assignment
  • non-blocking Quiz
    10 minutes-quiz with 10 multiple-choice items. Each correct answer gives 1 point to the quiz mark.
  • non-blocking Exam
    A written exam paper should include a clear statement of the research problem, explanation of known research perspectives on the problem by using concepts and analytical tools from home reading, and the examples, comments and remarks of the student.
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2024/2025 3rd module
    0.3 * Exam + 0.3 * In-class Participation + 0.2 * Quiz + 0.2 * Written assignment
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Flick, U., Scott, W., & Metzler, K. (2014). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. London, [England]: SAGE Publications Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=799015

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Anthony Downs. (1957). An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy. Journal of Political Economy, 135. https://doi.org/10.1086/257897

Authors

  • Ильина Мария Ивановна
  • MATSKEVICH MARIYA GEORGIEVNA
  • TKACHEVA TATYANA YUREVNA