The authors of the new course on Russian statehood explained its essence

On Wednesday, a press conference entitled “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood” was held at the site of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA. It was dedicated to the course of the same name, which has been taught to almost all first-year students since September and aims to explain to them what Russian civilization is and what values ​​it has. The participants of the event once again asked themselves whether it is worth saying that the new course is ideological in nature, or whether it simply allows the student to understand whether he is with Russia or not.

About the course “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood” its authors told journalists more than once. Another one press conferenceas a Kommersant source close to the presidential administration explained, was needed to “put an end” to this discussion.

Recall that the new course, developed with the support of the internal political bloc of the Presidential Administration, should explain to students the features of Russian civilization and its characteristic values.

Such a concept could not but cause a sharp discussion in society and even criticism, to which the creators of the course periodically publicly responded.

The speakers of the final press conference were eminent teachers of social and political disciplines: Vice-Rector of the RANEPA, scientific director of the DNA of Russia project (in fact, the main public developer of the course) Andrei Polosin, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science of Moscow State University Andrei Shutov and two professors of this faculty – Vardan Baghdasaryan ( Department of Public Policy) and Sergey Perevezentsev (Department of the History of Socio-Political Doctrines). They were accompanied by Valery Fadeev, head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, and Olga Petrova, Deputy Minister of Education.

First, the audience was shown a video explaining that the course was developed on behalf of the president and was designed to “form a coordinate system in which Russian youth will live and develop.” After that, Mrs. Petrova briefly reminded that the course was “live” and, although it had already begun to be taught, would continue to develop and be supplemented with methodological materials. She also congratulated everyone on “the launch of such a large-scale initiative as the reboot of social and humanitarian knowledge.”

The baton was picked up by Valery Fadeev, who recently called on Russians not to be afraid of the word “ideology.”

On this occasion, the developers of the course periodically have discrepancies: someone says that in no case will it become an instrument of “ideologization”, while someone, on the contrary, praises the ideological approach. Mr. Fadeev again joined the latter: “They began to reproach this course for being ideological. In general, we shy away from the word “ideology”, as if it were something terrible. But ideology permeates society, permeates the state. No society, no state exists without ideology. It is written in the Constitution that a single ideology is forbidden.” As proof, the human rights activist cited examples of the ideologies of the West, which included “a package of LGBT and feminism, including some kind of euthanasia”, and “environmentalism”. “I can’t even utter a word of this: environmentalism, headed by the conditional Greta Thunberg, is, of course, an ideology, and a radical ideology, like socialism,” Mr. Fadeev insisted. At the end of his speech, he praised the new course “for its value approach”, while appealing to the Western sociologist Max Weber, who, in particular, singled out “value-rational actions.”

“As a social scientist with many years of experience from the university environment, I will say that we are present at a historical event: value bases based on our national interests are returning to social and humanitarian science,” Andrey Shutov supported the previous speaker. According to him, any Western political science textbooks also begin with a listing of values, which is why our textbooks also need to record what Russia is and what its special path is.

Sergei Perevezentsev said that the course was based on scientific research.

“One of the accusations is that we deify the state. You know, the main request of young people in this regard is the request for paternalism, for a strong state. This is the main request of our youth from 14 to 35 years old,” the teacher shared. Later, he explained that the demand for paternalism is visible even in the understanding of human rights: speaking about their value, young people mention the state, because they want it to observe and protect these rights first of all: “The state in Russia plays such a huge role that even our contemporaries turn to the power of the state, which will ensure their rights.

Andrey Polosin, in turn, assured that the course cannot be propaganda, since all lectures and seminars will be “educational events” and each student will have the opportunity to understand the value that is being discussed and accept it or not. “We give the student the opportunity to realize: he is a Russian person, he is together with his country, together with his people, or for him this is not what he is ready to strive for, live and be. And the task of the course is to convey, probably, the truth about what Russian is, ”the political scientist explained.

Finally, Vardan Baghdasaryan recalled the thought of “a world-famous historical figure who is gaining the first rating positions among statesmen” (Joseph Stalin. As Kommersant reported, according to opinion polls, his popularity is indeed growing, but he is the first line of the ratings, as a rule, inferior to Russian monarchs of a more separated past.— “b”): “Without theory, we are death.”

Mr. Baghdasaryan lamented that, until recently, universities were guided by a methodology that “led students, albeit not directly, to the conclusion that Russia is a pathology, Russia is an anomaly.”

It is no longer possible to live with such methodological tools, the professor noted. Sergey Perevezentsev also acknowledged that liberal dogma dominated in the social sciences and humanities for a long time, which could not be violated, otherwise you would become a handshake. And the new course is addressed not only to young people, but also to the country, it is an attempt to understand our country, looking at it with a traditional look, the teacher explained: “We do not separate our children and grandchildren from us. We are one country, we are one people.”

Andrey Vinokurov