СМИ о мероприятиях

| 07 мая, 2014

Series of Lectures entitled ‘Time for Russia’ will help in the understanding of events occurring in early 21st century Russia.

Our REGNUM correspondent reports that Konstantin Kostin, head of the Foundation for Civil Society Development (FCSD), believes that the events of the first decade of the 21st century – in the course of which Russia reinforced its internal policies and shored up its role in the international arena – are in need of interpretation and consolidation. To this end Kostin, together with the Higher School of Economics (HSE) has organised a series of lectures entitled ‘Time for Russia’.

“This is a period in the history of our country which is of great significance” said Konstantin Kostin. “The policies, which Vladimir Putin implemented during his first two terms as President, saw a shoring up of the foundations of the State; the development of the political system and institutions of civil society; a growth in the economy and rising living standards. Large-scale national projects were initiated, thanks to which Russia has significantly increased the birth rate and life expectation as well as improving the situation in both agriculture and in the social sphere.”

Kostin also drew attention to the fact that in the first decade of this century, Russia’s authority and influence in the international arena has grown: during this period Russia has become one of the leading centres of power and now takes and active part in shaping the global agenda.

Much has been written and said about events which happened at the beginning of the 21st century in Russia. However there is a shortage of basic analytical studies and the joint project between the FCSD and the HSE aims to fill this gap. He adds that the series of lectures will be of both a practical and an “intrinsically theoretical” nature.

Kostin hopes that this material will be of use to the academic world. He pointed out that the structure and themes of the series of lectures are calculated to give the audience a systematic, comprehensive picture of the key processes that took place in Russia in the first decade. The auditorium will thus be able to understand not only ‘what’ happened, but also ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘under what circumstances’ various government decisions were taken. This equally applies to all spheres of national development whether they be political, economic, social, civil or journalistic.

“The speakers” said Kostin “will be both Russian and foreign academics, experts and journalists and also politicians – in other words the very people who were directly involved in making history during this period.”

According to the first vice-rector of the HSE, Vadim Radaev, the events which took place at the beginning of the 21st century in Russia have given rise to polarised opinions and turbulent emotions. Society lacks “the resource of distancing itself” from the events which is the only way to gain an objective grasp of the recent past which is so closely bound to the present and the future. “We hope that to some extent, this project will help to solve this problem” he said. “We have a very strong line-up of foreign and Russian speakers. The Higher School of Economics are putting forward their best professors and we hope that in the course of this project we will hear many different views and opinions.”

The series of lectures ‘Time for Russia’ will start in September at the Higher School of Economics. The line-up of speakers and organisation of the programme is still in the process of being agreed. The German journalist and political scientist Alexander Rahr and former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock have already provisionally agreed to take part in the project. We already know that the lectures will be divided into the following sections: economics; politics (domestic and foreign), civil society, social services, education, culture, media and others. All lectures are open to the public and will be broadcast on the internet.