European University at St. Petersburg
International MA in Russian Politics and Society
IMARPS is a graduate program for students already holding a B.A. or its
equivalent who now wish to deepen and expand their knowledge of Russia or
other successor states of the Soviet Union. Those reading for an M.A. in
Russian Politics and Society at the EUSP are expected to become first-class
specialists in their field and have a solid interdisciplinary understanding
of the region.
EUSP is a private university, founded in 1994 by the St.Petersburg city
government, Russian Academy of Sciences, and several learned societies with
support from the MacArthur, Ford and Soros Foundations. The University has
five departments (or Faculties): political sciences and sociology,
ethnology, history, economics and finance, and history of the arts (in
cooperation with the Hermitage State Museum). IMARPS is offered by the
Faculty of Political Science and Sociology. Located in a beautiful downtown
aristocratic mansion, the University offers an outstanding scholarly and
cultural experience for those wishing to spend a year in Russia.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
John Barber, King's College, University of Cambridge
Victoria Bonnell, Sociology, Univeristy of California, Berkeley
Svetlana Boym, Comparative Literature, Harvard University
Alex Dallin, Political Science, Stanford University
Sheila Fitzpatrick, History, University of Chicago
Michael Urban, Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz
COURSES OFFERED IN 1999/2000:
(each course is a 14-week class, complete with lectures and discussion sections)
Political Science
Sociology
Other Disciplines
Political Science:
1. Vladimir Gel'man, Contemporary Russian Politics: An Overview
This course focuses on post-Soviet political dynamics, with a special emphasis on the "making" and
"unmaking" of political structures and institutions. The topics discussed cover such issues as the present
condition of presidency and parliamentarism, political parties, elections, federalism, and regional and
local government in Russia.
2. Grigorii Golosov, Political Parties in Russia
This course is focused on the emergence of competitive political parties within the context of Russia's
partial democratization. Starting with the mass anti-regime mobilization of the late 1980s, the course
traces the origins of contemporary political parties by examining the national electoral campaigns of
1993, 1995, and 1996, and regional executive and legislative elections. Special attention is given to the
organizational aspects of party system formation under constraints imposed upon political actors by
post-communist institutional settings, including strong presidency, federalism, and a parallel electoral
system.
3. Oleg Kharkhordin, Political Theory and Russian Studies
This course aims at thinking on political problems of contemporary Russia with the help of the great
theorists of past and present. Classics covered include Hobbes, Tocqueville and Weber. Of the twentieth
century theorists particular attention will be given to Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin and Michel
Foucault. Topics for discussion include: formation and dissolution of the state; civil society and the state
of nature; religion and politics; language and politics; practices of everyday life and resistance.
4. Peter Rutland, Political Economy of Market-Building in Post-Communist States
This course examines political and administrative difficulties accompanying the effort to build market
economies in five post-socialist countries: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
After a historical introduction to socialist economic institutions, the course turns to the central processes
of privatization, stabilization, enterprise adaptation, and fiscal and administrative development.
5. TBA, Russia and the World: Contemporary Russian Foreign Policy
This course aims to help students obtain analytic tools and detailed factual knowledge on their way to
becoming experts on Russian foreign policy. Important questions to be explored include: Can we
identify an enduring political process that helps us understand and even predict the fast and frequent
changes in post-Soviet Russian foreign policy? What are the relative levels of influence of key interest
groups in Russia, including the military, the oil-and-gas complex, and the emerging free market sector,
and are they impacting the very definition of Russia's national interests? Readings for the course are
chosen to give students a wide range of views, including English-language perspectives from Russia
itself, keeping students informed of the most current thinking of top policymakers and analysts.
Sociology:
6. Vadim Radaev, Sociology of Entrepreneurship in Post-Communist Russia
This course introduces students to the study of emerging Russian entrepreneurship. The following
issues are covered: stages in the formation of entrepreneurship in post-Communist Russia and the main
privatization strategies; the social portrait and public image of new Russian entrepreneurs; their business
culture and ethics; small business support programs; review of studies on the history and current status
of Russian entrepreneurship.
7. Alexander Etkind, Sociology of Religion and Russian Studies
This course combines an introduction to sociology of religion with an survey of intellectual and cultural
problems of contemporary Russian society. The focal issue is the religious (ir)relevance of capitalism.
German Reformation, French Enlightenment, American Democracy, and Russian Revolution gave their
diverging responses to the bourgeois challenge. Is capitalism spiritually neutral? How do
religious/cultural/intellectual structures modify the propensity for capitalist behavior? Does secularization
compensate for the missed religious reform? Is there an Oriental model of development, and how it
relates to Russia? Readings for this course include Rousseau, Tocqueville, Weber, Durkheim, James,
Freud, Berdiaev and Foucault. They aim to stimulate sensitivity to the deepest roots of current
controversies.
8. Vadim Volkov, State and Violence in Post-Communist Russia
This course addresses the major complication of Russia's transition to the market economy: the
weakening of the state and the rise of organized crime. This problem is examined from interdisciplinary
and comparative perspective. The first, theoretical part of the course focuses on historical relations
between states and markets. The purpose of the second part is to achieve understanding of structural
conditions, economic functions and cultural patterns of violent entrepreneurship in Russia and to assess
its effects on the Russian state. Apart from theoretical readings, students will be offered a selection of
Russian original sources on criminal groups, their practices and subculture. Other topics covered include
theories of the state in different traditions of thought, the idea of sovereignty and its prerequisites,
formative conditions and major functions of the state.
9. Anna Temkina and Elena Zdravomyslova, Gender Problems and Feminist Discourse in
Russia
A feminist version of the social construction paradigm serves as the theoretical foundation for this class.
This approach will be applied to the analysis of contemporary (post-Soviet) gender relations in Russia.
Gender relations in a broader context of Russian history, starting from the nineteenth century, will be
also explored. Topics covered include issues of gender inequality in the spheres of paid work, politics,
family, sexuality and citizenship. This course will students opportunities to participate in intensive
seminar discussions and to reflect on their own gender experience.
10. Eduard Ponarin, Ethnic Issues in Post-Soviet Space
This course examines the dissolution of the USSR and ensuing ethnic conflicts. The course starts with
an examination of imperial legacy, and consider the new Soviet system as the heir to the Russian
Empire. Special emphasis is given to the Soviet institutionalization of ethnicity and its effects on the
Soviet elites. The course analyzes the causes and mechanisms of the nature of ethnic tensions and
conflicts in the post-Soviet states, concentrating on such cases as Karabagh, Transdniestria, Abkhazia,
and Chechnia.
Other Disciplines:
11. Mikhail Krom, Sergei Podbolotov, Russian Political and Social History.
The first part of this course aims at tracing the evolution of forms of political and social organization
preceding the emergence of modern Russia. Special attention will be given to changes in political
institutions, relations between rulers and their subjects, local government, social strata, the Russian
religious mind, and the origins of patriotism and ethnicity. The second part gives an overview of the
development of the state and society in imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Specifically, it aims at
providing a comparative perspective on the processes of modernization in Russia and in the rest of
Europe. Discussion sessions will concentrate on major debates about the key problems of modern
Russian history.
12. Alexander Bukhvalov, Banking and Corporate Governance in Russia
Relationship between corporate governance and ownership is a classical issue of political economy.
Market economy solves this problem by developing both a financial market, where property rights are
traded, and a banking system. Banking system develops according to two main models: the
Anglo-Saxon model, when ownership and management are separated from each other following the
Glass-Steagall Act, and the model adopted in Germany and Japan, when commercial banks are allowed
to own non-financial companies. This course concentrates on how Russia dealt with the same set of
issues since 1992. It presents a short history of financial markets in Russia and discusses such topics as
creation of financial-industrial groups, financial intermediation and banking. It also deals with the legal
environment, especially with civil code and laws on securities. Such cultural matters as specific
mentalites of Russian government officials, bankers and businessmen are considered. Finally, intrinsic
reasons and specific features of the 1997/98 economic crisis are investigated in detail.
13. Alexei Vassiliev, Russian Novel: Evolution and Revolution.
This course examines historical and contemporary dynamics of the novel genre development in Russia.
Broad overview of major works is complemented by close readings, textual and stylistic analysis, and
the study of criticial, social and political responses to literary works. Works to be discussed include
novels by Pushkin, Lermontov, Tostoy, Dostoevsky, Bely, Nabokov, Pasternak and one of the
contemporary authors. Novels dealing with St. Petersburg will be given particular attention; discussion
sections will combine class studies with excursions to the sites where protagonists' action took place.
For those wishing to do so, readings in the original, rather than in English translation, is possible.
14. Roman Grigoriev, Boris Katz, Art and Power in Russia.
The course elucidates the dynamics of changing attitudes of Russian authorities toward the artistic
activities in the domains of the visual arts, architecture and music. Different reasons and results of
various connections between art and power will be discussed by using the most remarkable examples of
Russian art that will be considered as a system depending upon, obeying to, or challenging the state
ideology and politics. The course covers a period from the middle of the 17th century up to the present
time.
15. Lev Klejn, Ilya Utekhin, Topics in Ethnographic Research: Communal Culture and
Mentality in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia.
The course consists of two complementary parts, aiming at revealing some important traits of the Soviet
mentality and explaining particularities of modern Russian social life and national character. The first
part of the course covers subjects related to the "communal apartment," a special type of urban dwelling
that housed several families sharing facilities and resources. The course provides a detailed account of
everyday practices, customary law and habits. Such topics as envy, queuing, and everyday perceptions
of justice, privacy and hygiene are discussed. The second part of the course examines Soviet criminal
subculture with its quite traceable imprint laid on contemporary Russian culture. Topics to be covered
are: rites, castes and habits of criminals held in Soviet detention centers; their diffusion into a broader
society; ethnic relations in the criminal milieu; effects of official policies of "reforging" of the criminal.
ABOUT THE FACULTY:
Daniil Alexandrov, Candidate of Sciences (History, Russian Academy of
Sciences). Author of numerous publications in Russian on the history and
sociology of science, education and the Russian intelligentsia: his
journal articles in English have appeared in Russian Studies in History
and
Configurations. Recipient of scholarships and grants from Wodrow Wilson
Center, IREX, SSRC and other agencies for scientific research and the
organization of international conferences. Visiting Professor, Department
of History, University of Chicago (1992), Research Scholar, Kennan
Institute of Advanced Russian Studies (1993), Visiting Professor, School
of
Literature, Communication and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology
(1994).
Research interests: sociology of science, history of Russian science,
sociology of literature.
Vladimir Gel man, Candidate of Sciences (Political Science, St. Petersburg
State University). Formerly - Deputy Director of the Institute for
Humanities and Political Studies (IGPI, Moscow), and an Associate Member
of
the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation (nominated by
the Yabloko faction of the State Duma). Recipient of a Ford Foundation
fellowship for a research stay at the University of Essex. Author of
articles in East European Constitutional Review and in Regional and Federal
Studies; also has published dozens of articles in Russian journals and
edited collections. A permanent editor of the IGPI collection of articles
Ocherki rossiiskoi politiki [Essays on Russian Politics].
Research interests: contemporary Russian political institutions, regional
political systems and dynamics in Russia.
Grigorii Golosov, M.A. (Political Science, Central European University),
Candidiate of Sciences (Philosophy, Novosibirsk University). Author of the
most popular introduction to comparative politics in Russian, Sravnitelnaia
Politologiia (2nd edition, 1995), and articles in Party Politics,
Government and Opposition, and other journals and edited collections.
Recipient of research fellowships from the Kennan Institute for Advanced
Russian Studies, MacArthur Foundation, Soros Foundation, IREX; British
Council, and the Helen Kellogg Institute of International Studies at the
University of Notre-Dame.
Research interests: party politics, regional politics in Russia,
comparative transitions to democracy.
Henry E. Hale, Ph.D. (Government, Harvard University). Currently - Adjunct
Assistant Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of
Law
and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Davis
Center for Russian Studies at Harvard University. Author of "Bashkortostan:
Ethnicity, State Power, and the Consolidation of Democracy," forthcoming
in
Timothy J. Colton and Jerry F. Hough, eds., Russia's Protodemocracy in
Action, and of a work-in-progress entitled Statehood at Stake:
Democratization, The Ethnic Security Dilemma and The Soviet Collapse. His
other published work focuses on the intersection of democratization, ethnic
politics and the foreign policies of the new states of Eurasia.
Research interests: Relations between former Soviet republics, comparative
foreign policy, international integration, ethnic politics, state-building.
Oleg Kharkhordin, Ph.D.(Political Science, University of California,
Berkeley). Junior Scholar, Harvard Academy for International and Area
Studies. Author of the forthcoming book The Collective and the Individual
in Soviet Russia: A Study of Background Practices, and articles in
Europe-Asia Studies, International Sociology, Revue d Etudes Comparatives
Est-Ouest.
Research interests: XXth century political theory, the pragmatic turn in
the social sciences, Stalinism and its aftermath.
Igor Kon, Doctor of Sciences (Philosophy, Leningrad State University); A.D.
White Professor-at-large, Cornell University; Doctor Honoris Causa,
University of Surrey. Member of the Russian Academy of Education. One of
the founders of Soviet sociology as a science, author of numerous books
and
monographs in Russian, German and other languages, including Pozitivizm
v
sotsiologii (1964), Sotsiologiia lichnosti (1967), Etnografiia detstva
(several volumes in the 1980s), V poiskakh sebia (1984), Druzhba (3rd
edition, 1989), Psikhologiia rannei iunosti (4 ed., 1989). Recently, while
acting as a research scholar at Harvard University and a Visiting
Professor at Wellesley College, he published The Sexual Revolution in
Russia (The Free Press, 1995).
Research interests: gender and sexuality, social theory, personality
research, youth and adolescence, anthropology of childhood, gay and lesbian
studies.
Mikhail Krom, Candidate of Sciences (History, Institute of Russian History,
Russian Academy of Sciences). Associate Professor at the History Department
of EUSP. Author of Mezh Rusiu i Litvoi [Between Rus and Lithuania: Western
Russian Lands in the XV-XVI Centuries] (Moskva, 1995). Author of journal
articles in Russian, German and Polish. Recipient of a research fellowship
from the Institute of History, Warsaw University.
Research interests: history of medieval and early modern Russia and Eastern
Europe, historiography, methodology of historical studies, history of
mentalities.
Alena Ledeneva, Ph.D. (Sociology, Cambridge University). Formerly -
Associate Professor of the Sociology Department of Novosibirsk State
University. Currently -- Research Fellow at New Hall College, Cambridge.
Author of Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal
Exchange (forthcoming at Cambridge University Press).
Research interests: sociology and anthropology of everyday life, economies
of exchange, social theory.
Alexei Miller, Candidate of Sciences (History, Institute of Slavic and
Balkan Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences). Editor of the first Soviet
collection of essays on totalitarianism, Totalitarizm (Moskva: IFAN, 1988),
and of numerous collections of essays on ethnicity and nationalism in
Russian. Published journal articles in English (The Austrian History
Yearbook), German, Polish, Hungarian, Croatian. Recurrent Visiting
Professor in the department of History, Central European University. Head
of the Polish Studies Group, Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies.
Research interests: theories of ethnicity and nationalism, history of
nationalism from the Russian empire to the post-Communist period,
Polish-Ukranian-Russian relations.
Sergei Podbolotov, Ph.D (History, Cambridge University), Candidate of
Sciences (History, St. Petersburg State University). Formerly an assistant
professor at the Department of History, St. Petersburg State University;
author of articles on Russian right-wing political parties in the early
1900s. Recipient of IREX awards for research stays at Stanford and at the
Harriman Institute of Columbia University.
Research interests: modern political history of Russia, political parties
during the Russian revolution, Russian nationalist and right-wing movements
in the beginning of the XXth century.
Vadim Radaev, Candidate of Sciences (Political Economy, Moscow State
University). Head of the department of economic sociology at the Institute
of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Associate Professor,
department of sociology, Moscow Higher School for Social and Economic
Sciences. Author of two standard Russian primers: Sotsialnaia
Stratifikatsiia (Moskva, 1995, together with O. Shkaratan), and
Ekonomicheskaia Sotsiologiia (forthcoming in 1997). Published
English-language articles in various journals (Economic and Industrial
Democracy, Problems of Economic Transition, International Sociology) and
in
edited collections.
Research interests: social stratification, economic sociology, sociology
of
entrepreneurship.
Anna Temkina, Ph.D. (Sociology, Helsinki University). Author of numerous
articles in Russian in edited collections, and of journal articles in
Europe-Asia Studies, Sociological Research. Co-edited Gendernoe izmerenie
sotsialnoi i politicheskoi aktivnosti v perekhodnyi period [The Gender
Dimension of Social and Political Activity During Transitions] (Moskva,
1996). Recipient of an IREX award to conduct research at Columbia
University and the New School for Social Research. Co-director of the
Gender Studies Program at EUSP.
Research interests: political sociology, social movements, feminist
studies, gender issues in contemporary Russia.
Vadim Volkov, Ph.D. (Sociology, Cambridge University). Dean of the Faculty
of Political Sciences and Sociology at EUSP. Author of the forthcoming book
A History of the Concept of Society: Public Life in Imperial Russia,
numerous articles in Russian journals and English language edited
collections. Visiting Fellow at King s College, Cambridge.
Research interests: contemporary social theory, sociology of culture,
sociology of everyday life, historical sociology, Russian society and
customs in the XVIII-XX centuries.
David Woodruff, Ph.D. (Political Science, University of California,
Berkeley). Assistant Professor at the department of political science,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; on temporary leave from his home
institution. Author of "Barter of the Bankrupt: the Politics of
Demonetization in Russia's Federal State" (forthcoming in Michael Burawoy
and Katherine Verdery, eds., Ethnographies of Transition), and a
work-in-progress entitled Making Money: State and Market in the New Russia.
The recipient of multiple grants for research in Russia, Professor Woodruff
has done field studies of regional political and economic systems in
Nizhnii Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Samara and Vladivostok.
Research interests: political economy of transitions; center-regional
politics in Russia; politics of state-building; classic German social and
political thought; intellectual history of the social sciences.
(Note: Professor Woodruff's participation is expected, pending further
arrangements.)
Elena Zdravomyslova, Candidate of Sciences (Sociology, Institute of
Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Author of Paradigmy zapadnoi
sotsiologii obshchestvennykh dvizhenii [Paradigms of Western Sociology of
Social Movements] (Moskva: Nauka, 1994). Co-edited
Grazhdanskoe obschestvo na evropeiskom severe [Civil Society in Northern
Europe] (St.Petersburg, 1997), published articles in International
Sociology and Forschungsjournal Neue Soziale Bewegungen. Recipient of an
IREX grant for research at the University of California, Berkeley, and of
a
fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioural Sciences at
Stanford. Co-director of the Gender Studies Program at EUSP.
Research interests: political sociology, social movements, stratification
analysis, gender studies.
EXAMPLES OF RECENTLY GRANTED MAs
Russian ethnic policy in the 1990s: conceptual models and political
practice.
Constructing masculinity and its problematization in biographical
narratives.
The role of the non-profit sector in the development of the liberal
model of social welfare policy in contemporary Russia.
Habitat as a social institute: Leningrad, 1918-1941.
Russian literary formalism: a sociological interpretation.
Educating children in the West: reconversion strategies of the new
wealthy classes in Russia.
Ethnicity: theoretical constructions and biographical narratives. A
case study of theTartar community in St. Petersburg.
The work ethic of contemporary Russian re-immigrants: a study of
values and self-fashioning practices.
The conception of civil society in post-Soviet Russia:
spatio-temporal models and structural features.
Justice as a practice: a study of the concept of spravedlivost .
Continuity and social change: strategies of the aristocratic milieu
during the Soviet era.
Subject or citizen: the role of institutional factors in the
political culture of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Students must take at least six courses during the year according to a
3-2-1 configuration:
three courses in a student s major area of interest out of the two
available (political science or sociology), two courses in a minor area,
and at least one course in history during the year.
(Please note that language courses do not count toward the course
requirements.)
Sample Program:
Three courses in political science (Contemporary Russian Politics,
Nationalism and Ethnicity, Political Theory and Russian Studies)
Two in sociology (Sociology of Entrpreneurship, Gender Issues in
Contemporary Russia)
One history class (Political History of Russia in XIX-XX centuries)
Students receive the Master of Arts degree upon completing the course
requirements, and depositing a Masters Essay. (A B+ grade or better is
required in at least 3 courses. No grade may be below a B). Additionally,
students who have not mastered the language must take a whole year of
intensive classes in Russian; these classes do not give a grade that counts
toward the GPA. All teaching, except for language classes, is done in
English.
Masters Essay:
All students must submit a Masters Essay to be evaluated by two faculty
staff members, one being the academic advisor. Each essay, generally
resulting from research undertaken for a seminar or colloquium, must be
sponsored by an EUSP faculty member and be an original piece of research,
interpretation, or analysis based, at least in part, on primary source
materials. Essays generally must be 50-75 pages in length, fully footnoted,
and include bibliographies. Essays must be within a student s major area
of
interest and deal with a topic directly related to the student s chosen
program of study during the year.
Transfer Credits:
One course in a field other than a language, from those taught at other
departments of the EUSP, may be accepted for IMARPS. This course may
substitute for one from the minor requirements. All courses on the EUSP
Course List, which is published in the EUSP Annual at the beginning of each
academic year, except those courses that are listed under the department
of
economics, automatically qualify for credit transfer. In order to acquire
transfer credits, students must provide the Dean with a formal request,
along with a copy of the relevant syllabus and the course work requirements.
Note, however, that as a rule teaching in EUSP outside of IMARPS is done
in
Russian, and that the course requirements will have to be fulfilled in
Russian. In such transfer credit courses, in addition to meeting the
regular course requirements, students will thus have to produce an
acceptable English-language research paper of direct relevance to the
Russian empire, the USSR, or the post-Communist states, under the
supervision of their advisor from IMARPS .
Time Constraints:
It is expected that students in IMARPS must complete all the degree
requirements during one academic year. However, certain exceptions can be
made for those who wish to perfect their knowledge of Russian and thus
would opt to complete all the requirements over the course of two years.
ADMISSION
For admission to IMARPS, students must satisfy the requirements for
admission to the M.A. Programs at EUSP, except for the language
requirement. Although those students who have some knowledge of Russian
before the beginning of their first term will have a certain advantage in
terms of everyday life, the Program is designed in such a way as to
encourage the participation of those who have not studied Russian before.
IMARPS welcomes students from all social science disciplines to apply; one
need not hold a degree in Russian, Soviet, or East European Studies. IMARPS
major requirement is that students be highly motivated, and also devoted
to
and capable of rigorous study. Letters of recommendation, grade-point
averages and transcripts of previous academic work, statements of purpose
that describe research interests, professional experience, personal
achievements, and scholarly potential are all taken into account in
evaluating candidates to IMARPS.
ACADEMIC FEES AND LIVING EXPENSES
It is estimated that the academic fees for a two-semester MA program in
1998/99 will amount to approximately $6,000 per annum ($3,000 per semester
payable at least one month before the day the studies commence).
Lodging is not provided by EUSP, but arrangements for those wishing to rent
a room with Russian families will be made. The cost of living in St.
Petersburg is still substantially lower than the cost of living in Moscow,
and the average room would cost less than $200 per month.
The overall estimated living expense for 9 months including lodging, food,
local transport, books and study materials is $3,000-4,000 on a moderate
budget.
Given the current condition of Russian government spending on education,
and the relevant regulations, financial aid is available only to Rusian
citizens and permanent residents. However, EUSP is negotiating with some
US
and West European educational foundations about the possibilities of a fee
offset for international students by means of a special grant.
STUDENT LIFE AT EUSP
Through the many special programs and events it sponsors, the distinguished
visiting scholars and guest speakers it hosts, its special facilities and
location in the northern capital of Russia, EUSP offers a multifaceted
environment which can enrich a student s graduate experience far beyond
what the classroom alone can provide. EUSP strongly encourages interaction
between its students and faculty. The student lounge of the Faculty of
Political Science and Sociology, which hosts IMARPS, is open all day and
most evenings during the week for its community to enjoy. And traditional
forms of the rich Russian social life mix with Western academic habits:
the
famous Friday Interdisciplinary Seminar, diverse discussion groups, Happy
Hours, holiday parties, and other social gatherings provide a congenial
atmosphere for informal and lively contact.
Foreign students greatly profit from daily interaction with their Russian
counterparts. The student body of the Faculty of Political Science and
Sociology is known for its scholarly excellence and wit. Given the fact
that EUSP grants the highest stipends in Northwestern Russia for students
that qualify, the Faculty has consistently attracted the very top of those
wishing to pursue scholarly careers. Those Russian students who choose to
enter the IMARPS rather than to complete the standard MA in Russian, are
distinguished even more by their intention to fulfil all the requirements
in a foreign language.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
The EUSP Library:
Students and scholars coming to IMARPS have at their disposal one of the
finest collections of recent English language books and journals in Russia,
arguably the best in St.Petersburg. EUSP holdings, all referenced in a
computerised catalogue, are concentrated in the fields of history,
economics, political science, sociology, law, philosophy, literature, and
the arts. The University conducts an active exchange program with libraries
in the United States and acquires new material on a regular basis. EUSP
also has an expanding Russian language collection, where acquisitions are
made in accordance with syllabi requirements.
St. Petersburg Libraries:
In addition to the EUSP library, students at IMARPS can draw on the unique
resources of Russia s northern capital. The famous Russian National
Library, a central repository of the Russian Empire, has the most
impressive collection of Russian-language publications from before 1917.
The objective of its Soviet era collection was to have every book published
in Russian, and it has achieved this target well until very recently. The
RNL also houses an extensive collection of contemporary sources in foreign
languages. Another good opportunity for consulting modern scholarly works
is offered by the Library of the Academy of Sciences.
St. Petersburg Archives:
Those wishing to do research dealing with original sources will find EUSP
more than welcoming. The dean of the EUSP History Department is a former
head of the Imperial Archive of St. Petersburg; other professors of history
at EUSP are members of the governing boards of archives offering
post-revolutionary sources. The EUSP faculty offer guides for archival
sources upon request.
HOW TO APPLY:
Application forms can be downloaded from http://www.users.nevalink.ru/eusp,
or requested by e-mail from sociopol@eu.spb.su.
Applications should include:
1. A completed and signed application form
2.Your statement of purpose (not more than 500 words)
3. Two letters of recommendation, sealed and signed across the seal, from
academics who are closely acquainted with your academic work.
4. Certified transcripts of previous undergraduate and graduate studies,
with grade-point averages.
5. Your Curriculum Vitae
Please send your application to:
International MA in Russian Politics and Society
European University at St. Petersburg
3 Furmanova Street
191187 St. Petersburg, Russia
You can call 812-2755133 for inquiries (the country code for Russia is 7);
or send an e-mail message to sociopol@eu.spb.su