Applied Political Science and Ethnopolitical Processes in the Contemporary World
Source: https://english.spbu.ru/admission/programms/graduate/applied-political-science-and-ethnopolitical-processes-contemporary Parent: https://english.spbu.ru/admission/programms/graduate
41.04.04 In Russian
Level of education Master
Type of instruction Full-time
Duration 2 years
Programme description
The academic programme ‘Applied Political Science and Ethnopolitical Processes in the Contemporary World’ is aimed at training high calibre experts in applied political science and ethnic policy who are well-versed in the latest methods of empirical and applied political research. Graduates of the programme are ready for professional activities in: government agencies and local self-government bodies; civil society institutions; educational and research institutions; and specialised organisations related to the development and implementation of national policies and inter-ethnic relations.
The courses offered in the master’s programme ‘Applied Political Science and Ethnopolitical Processes in the Contemporary World’ solve the dual task of enabling the graduates of the programme to maximise their knowledge, skills and opportunities both in solving applied political problems and current issues in contemporary ethnic policies. On the one hand, they find themselves armed with all the cutting-edge technologies of studying political processes and influencing them. On the other hand, the programme provides graduates with in-depth knowledge of modern ethnic political science.
Graduates of the master’s programme are ready for research, teaching, educational and other activities in public, private, social and educational institutions that are aimed at harmonising political relations, including in the field of ethnopolitical relations.
Main courses
- Interstate Relations in the European Union
- Ethno–Political Processes in the "Greater Middle East" Countries
- Global Political Forecasting and Political Process Modelling
- Dynamics of Ethnic and Religious Relations in Modern China
- Immigration Policy in Modern Global World
- Information War in Political Ethnical Relations
- Methods of Political Manipulation
- Political Imageology
- Political Expertise
- Political Technologies in the Modern World
- Contemporary Ethnic Policy Theories
- Modern Analytical Tools and Forecasting Methods of Political Processes
- Strategies of Regional Policy in the Russian Federation
- Ethno–Political Processes in Russia
- Ethno–Political Processes in Africa
- Effectiveness of Modern Political Parties: Evaluation Methods and Results
Our advantages
- The master’s programme ‘Applied Political Science and Ethnopolitical Processes in the Contemporary World’ is designed to train experts in political technologies and skilled political analysts for research centres, civil society structures, and institutions implementing state national policy
- The academic courses are devoted to current issues in contemporary ethnopolitics and applied political research: global forecasting; public opinion research; the implementation of political science expertise; ethnopolitical conflicts and mechanisms of ethnopolitical mobilisation; identification of the reasons for the surge of nationalism in the contemporary world; the analysis of immigration processes in various countries and regions throughout the world; comparative analysis of the policy of nation-building; and others
- Master’s students acquire practical skills in applied research and application of political technologies
- The academic programme is focused on the acquisition of in-depth knowledge and skills that enable students to: skilfully analyse political processes; be fully functional in politics; be involved in political campaigns and efficiently interact with various political factors, including government agencies and civil society institutions
Main areas of research
- State identity policy
- Dynamics of ethnic and religious relations in modern China
- Immigration policy
- Information war in inter-ethnical relations
- Political process modelling
- Identity politics of small social groups
- Political imageology
- Political expertise
- Political risks
- Political technologies in the modern world
- Political territorial branding
- Political violence
- Political behaviour of social groups
- Religious processes in different regions of the world
- The role of public opinion in contemporary politics
- Ethno–cultural conflicts
- Ethno–political processes in different regions of the world
- Effectiveness of modern political parties
Career opportunities
Graduates of the master's programme are much-in-demand in public, private, social and educational institutions that are aimed at harmonising political relations, including in the field of ethnopolitical relations. The knowledge and skills acquired by students are much-in-demand in: public and administrative authorities; local government; and various analytical, educational, and civil society institutions. Scope of professional activities: political technology, research, educational, and teaching activities to name just a few.
Teaching staff
- Olga Popova, Doctor of Political Science, Professor, Head of the Department of Political Institutions and Applied Political Science, Head of the master’s programme. She specialises in political consciousness and behaviour, political identity and identity politics, and methods of political analysis and forecasting. She is the author of over 330 scholarly and educational publications, including 14 monographs (individual and multi-authored ones) and 15 textbooks, as well as 8 articles indexed in the Web of Science and 5 articles indexed in Scopus. Her h-index is as follows: Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) – 20; Web of Science – 3; Scopus – 1. Since 2008, she has served as the principal investigator or responsible executor of approximately 20 research grants supported by St Petersburg University, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISR), and the Russian Science Foundation (RNF), in addition to research contracts. These projects have addressed issues such as political trust, leadership, political mobilisation, protest and public behaviour among Russian youth, state policy in the field of identity formation, and the characteristics of political discourse on social media. She has worked as an analyst since 1995 and led the initiative research project Political St Petersburg from 2010 to 2017. She is the Chair of the Expert Council of the Russian Political Science Association (RPSA), an expert in the Federal Roster of Experts in Science and Technology of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, and an expert with Russian Science Foundations
- Valerii Achkasov, Doctor of Political Science, Professor, Head of the Department of Ethnopolitology. He is the author of over 370 scholarly and educational publications, including 13 multi-authored and five individual monographs, and 21 textbooks. He has also published 16 works on ethnic political science in international editions. He is Member of the Expert Council of the Higher Assessment Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for Political Science; Member of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Complex Problems of Ethnicity and Interethnic Relations; Member of the Expert Council of the Committee on Interethnic Relations and Migration Policy of the Government of St Petersburg; and Member of the Expert Council on Interethnic Relations of the Committee for Local Self-Governance, Interethnic and Interfaith Relations of the Leningrad Region.
- Artem Andreev, Candidate of History, Associate Professor, expert in ethno-political processes in the Central Asian states. He is the author of over 20 publications, including two individual and three multi-authored monographs; six articles on ethnopolitical processes published in peer-reviewed journals indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science. He has participated in scientific ethnographic expeditions to the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (2012), the Republic of Tajikistan (2011), the Republic of Kazakhstan (2015), and the Republic of Uzbekistan (2016). He has participated in five grant projects supported by the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation, the Russian Science Foundation, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, and the Russian State University for the Humanities. In 2013 and 2015, he received training in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2019, he was awarded a certificate of gratitude by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
- Sergei Lantsov, Doctor of Political Science, Professor. He is the author of over 200 scholarly publications, including seven monographs and more than 30 multi-authored and individual textbooks on international political institutions and processes. He has also published nine articles in journals indexed in Scopus
- Galina Lukyanova, Candidate of Political Science, Associate Professor. She is the author of 48 scholarly publications, including nine indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science. She has served as the principal investigator of one and participant in two research projects supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; and as a contributor to 20 empirical studies in political science. She is an expert in applied political and media technologies. She is a co-author of the monograph Governability and Discourse of Virtual Communities in the Conditions of Post-Truth Politics, which received the NAMMI-2020 International Media Research Award from the National Association of Mass Media Researchers
- Nikolai Skvortsov, Doctor of Sociology, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Sociology, Deputy Chair of the Federal Educational and Methodological Association ‘Sociology and Social Work’, Member of the Russian International Affairs Council, and Member of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Complex Problems of Ethnicity and Interethnic Relations. He is the author of more than 100 scholarly publications, including three monographs