Political Science as an academic discipline
in the Post-Soviet regions still has to be reformed in terms of the creation from down to
up of the truly independent networks and associations. Old-fashioned associations, ruled
still very often by former teachers of the scientific communism do exist at least in
capital cities of the region, but in reality they are not known for the public and
specialists and work mostly only on the paper. Among other social science disciplines
political science is probably most important for the state and civil democratic
developments, but at present, the discipline in the region is still far beyond the world
leading standards. The lack of the collaborative networks in this sphere as well as the
lack of the recognized scientific schools influences the quality of the political science
teaching at the universities. The local attempts to overcome this backwardness should be
supported by cooperation of the scholars living in the region and having similar problems.
There is a great need in the creation of the network for the cooperation and the exchange
of the ideas, methodology and methods of teaching in this sphere.
More than 200 participants from 8 countries of the CEP sponsored
International Conference “Political Science and State Authorities Interaction in the
Formation of the Political Processes in the Russian Federation and the New Independent
States” (held on 1-3 November 2002 in Ekaterinburg and hosted by the Institute of
Philosophy and Law, CEP – Russia and the Urals Academy of Public Administration)
showed big interest in the creation of the new network in political studies. During the
conference the Eurasian Political Studies Network was established.
The Eurasian Political Studies Network (EPSN) is an independent
bilingual (Russian and English) association which has a general goal in support of the
teaching, curriculum development, training, research, personal contacts, and
cross-national cooperation of academics in political studies, theorists and practitioners,
graduate students, policy makers and professionals dealing with political science higher
education in Russian Federation, New Independent States and Mongolia and throughout Europe
and beyond. The network will support the exchange of the information, ideas, research and
teaching methodologies in the field of politics. The network will expand the spectrum of
the opportunities for intra-regional cooperation as well as finding partners outside the
region.
The EPSN has an objective to reform the discipline that is still
inhibited by old structures. The EPSN will unite preliminary junior, early mid career and
mid career academics and professionals trained in the Western universities as well as a
wider range of their junior and senior supporters in the region, those who are able to
contribute to the higher education reforms in the field. The EPSN can give young and mid
career scholars and professionals an extra chance to rise to the top, filtered through the
selection process of peer review. The EPSN will also provide a contact information for
regional scholars and professionals seeking partners in the research and in the higher
education. The ESPN will promote the activities concerning political science students as
main target group of future researchers, academics and policy makers. Using international
experience the EPSN will elaborate the activities which can improve the qualifications of
the faculty, develop curricula, and provide the expertise for the teaching materials and
new courses in political science.
