Political scientists sent to the workshop

In the suburbs on Wednesday started a forum of young political scientists “Digoria”. At its opening, Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration (AP), personally explained what the Kremlin expects from representatives of political professions: they must satisfy the society’s need for pride in the country, convince young people that the crisis is a time of opportunity, and continue working on the consolidation of the Russian society. All forum participants were divided into “factories”, one of which was headed by the deputy head of the administration for public projects of the Presidential Administration Aleksey Zharich. And inside the “factories”, young political scientists were divided into “workshops”, in which they will form the “image of the future”, discuss the “Ukrainian issue”, strengthen “family values”, and develop their skills in the “hybrid war” and the formation of a “proactive agenda” “.

In his speech at the opening of the Digoria forum, the curator of the Kremlin’s internal political bloc, Sergei Kiriyenko, made it clear that he expects concrete and meaningful projects and practical solutions from political scientists, the implementation of which can be discussed already in the Kremlin. He also drew attention to the fact that certain areas of the forum are called not “laboratories”, but “factories or workshops”, and listed three main requests, the answers to which must be found by forum participants.

The first of them is connected with “massive pressure on Russia, attempts to cancel Russian culture, rewrite Russian history, isolate Russia from the world.” All this, according to Mr. Kiriyenko, requires an “adequate response.” Referring to some “closed documents”, the official said, Russia’s opponents expected that the sanctions would cause enormous public discontent, which would result in street protests. “They miscalculated drastically. Society in Russia responded to this quite differently. Consolidation of Russian society is the answer given by the citizens of our country,” said Mr. Kiriyenko. But even a consolidated society, he said, has a need to be proud of the country. “This means that representatives of civil society, the state have a responsibility to satisfy this need. We are obliged to give people the opportunity and reasons for pride, and not only historical ones, ”the representative of the Presidential Administration set the first task.

The second line of work is connected with Sergei Kiriyenko’s favorite thesis that “a crisis is a time of opportunity.” He stated that it is necessary not only to “hide” and engage in import substitution, but also to create the most new in all areas of activity. “Gagarin did not import anything. And Mendeleev did not import other people’s tables, ”the curator of domestic politics gave intelligible examples, adding that Russia in the 20th century had repeatedly proved its ability to restructure and radical changes in life. Political scientists, on the other hand, must ensure that this understanding is not only among them, but also in public opinion, and “the most important task for us is that our youth should have this understanding in the first place,” the Kremlin representative instructed. At the same time, he is sure that Russia’s opponents are already preparing an attack on our youth. “If you want to defeat the enemy, raise his children,” the official shared “oriental wisdom”.

The third task is again related to “consolidation”, which, by the way, was facilitated by the West itself. “For them, we are all Russians. This external pressure creates opportunities for high internal consolidation – interethnic, intergenerational, consolidation between different strata and categories of the population in our country. And this also requires a lot of work,” Mr. Kiriyenko explained. According to him, experts in the West are able to draw conclusions from their mistakes, which means that “everything just continues.”

Aleksey Zharich, deputy head of the President’s Public Projects Department, who spoke next, told political scientists that the authorities were ready to involve them in interpreting the events. “These are television broadcasts, and radio broadcasts, these are Internet projects,” the official listed. Separately, he focused on interpretive work for young people, recalling that people born in 2006 will vote in the next presidential election.

“We invite young political scientists, young people to talk shows, to commentate on television and on the Internet,” Anna Fedulkina, executive director of the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISI), confirmed, wishing the forum participants to be proud of what they are doing and of their country.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EISI, member of the Central Election Commission and Dean of the Faculty of Political Science of Moscow State University Andrey Shutov, in turn, said that in the late 80s ideology was removed from political science and because of this it ceased to perform its functions. “And it was replaced by another ideology, because nature, and even more so social nature, does not tolerate emptiness,” the expert explained. But now, in his opinion, the situation is changing. He called for the forum participants to reflect the values ​​of Russian society in their projects.

After the opening speeches, political scientists began a four-day study. All participants were divided into four “factories”, which, in turn, were divided into “workshops”. The “meaning factory”, which consists of the “shops” “State of the Future”, “Society of the Future” and “Man of the Future”, was headed by Ekaterina Sokolova, one of the key experts of the EISI. Aleksey Zharich became the head of the “Interpretation Factory”: he will oversee the work of the “workshops” “Ukrainian Crisis”, “Hybrid War” and “Proactive Agenda”. Political strategist Grigory Kazankov, who is regularly involved in gubernatorial and federal campaigns by the Presidential Administration, became the head of the “Social Design Factory”. Political scientists who have chosen this direction will work in the “workshops” “Consent”, “Family Values” and “Creation”.

Andrey Vinokurov