Knorus publishing group has published the Russian Statehood Principles textbook. Three professors of Saratov State University took part in its writing – Chair of the Department of Political Sciences, Professor Alexander Vilkov, Professor of the Department of Political Sciences Vladimir Mitrokhin, and Professor of the Department of Region Sociology Yaroslav Nikiforov.
The authors are delivering the course on the Russian statehood principles at Saratov State University and members of the working group on the development of the discipline concept. The course is based on the published edition. The authors of the textbook also included the teaching staff of the Volga Institute (branch), the All-Russian State University of Justice, and Derzhavin Tambov State University. The textbook was edited by Alexander Malko.
The publication examines the current issues of the Russian statehood, defines its general characteristics and peculiarities, analyses civilizational, ideological, and value constants, the political and legal structure of modern Russia, as well as the challenges of the future and the trends in the development of the state.
The textbook complies with the latest generation of the Federal State Educational Standard and is intended for undergraduate students of all courses. It can be useful for master's degree students and postgraduates, as well as for anyone interested in this issue.
According to one of the authors of the textbook, Professor Alexander Vilkov, it is fully focused on the teaching materials and the proposals of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia. ‘While working on the textbook, we have followed one simple principle – to make it interesting, understandable, and reliable. It was important to reflect the peculiarities and historical conditionality of the formation of the Russian state, demonstrate the role of the country in the development of the world economy, culture, art, as well as reveal the contribution of modern Russia to the formation of a new structure of the multipolar world. We paid a special attention to preserving historical memory. The scholars also tried to reveal the importance of a two-pronged state task – ensuring the unity of all Russian peoples and creating opportunities for preserving the language, culture, and distinctive traditions of each of them.’
President Vladimir Putin announced the introduction of the course last December at the State Council dedicated to youth policy, in January, he signed the order on its development. Since September 1, 2023, the course has started in all Russian universities. At Saratov State University, first-year students are taught a new discipline by the teaching staff of four educational units – the Faculty of Law, the Institute of History and International Relations, the Faculty of Philosophy, and the Faculty of Sociology. All of them have passed advanced training at corporate centres – MEPhI, Samara State University, and RANEPA, with the last being the main university for training the teaching staff for the discipline.
As the result of the training of the SSU teaching staff, the curriculum has been developed according with the concept proposed by the Russian Ministry of High Education and Science.
The new course is based on interdisciplinarity. Thus, it combines the elements of philosophy, political science, sociology, history, law, economics, cultural studies, and psychology. The teaching staff, who are prepared to work with the course, has the opportunity to use their own materials and approaches based on scientific major, while still following the subject concept.
The course consists of five sections – What is Russia?; The Russian State-Civilization; The Russian Worldview and the Values of Russian Civilization; The Polity of Russia"; The Challenges of the Future and the Development of the Country.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, as part of the DNA of Russia project, about seven thousand teaching staff members and experts in sociology and humanities were involved in the development of the course on the Russian statehood principles. The education-to-methodology resource of the course is based on the results of a series of studies and scientific developments, as well as the results of practical conferences that were held in all districts of the Russian Federation.
