Development of a political science during the Soviet and Post-Soviet time

After October revolution process of crystallisation of political ideas in separate discipline has interrupted. The period is 1917-1991 временем латентного developments: the political science has not been recognised by an existing political mode as scientific discipline and developed only within the limits of scientific community. Official «the political theory» began to carry out the social order of ruling Communist party and the Soviet power - scientifically to prove legitimacy of accepted decisions. Character and the maintenance of researches on political themes has considerably changed. It became unilateral: all phenomena of public and political life were considered through a prism of Marxism, the theory of class struggle, interests of working class, workers. The problem of the political theory was reduced to a substantiation of correctness of a political policy spent by the CPSU. The basic problem of political science - distribution and power realisation - remained closed for the objective analysis.

On the one hand, it has been connected by that the political theory has not got the status of an independent science as still was considered bourgeois, and developed within the limits of a scientific socialism. On the other hand, according to Marxism-Leninism, the period of existence of a policy, the state has a historical limit, on change by it moral regulators of human behaviour and public life should come. Therefore policy researches have been directed not on deepening of knowledge of mechanisms of politiko-state regulation, and on a substantiation of preconditions of dying off of the political organisation of a society.

For all these reasons during the Soviet period the political theory has considerably lagged behind a world science. In spite of the fact that the Soviet association of political sciences which became a member of the International association of political sciences 1955 has been created, in the country the recognition of political science as independent discipline has occurred only in the beginning of 90th of XX century But it has faced at once absence of qualified personnel which till that time did not prepare. Therefore the political science in Russia has had hard times of the statement of the status. Own research tradition has not developed yet, there is a continuous search.

Two tendencies are equally dangerous to development of a political science in Russia: 1) a tendency of automatic loan of the western theories and methods of the analysis, their noncritical transferring to special conditions of Russia; 2) aspiration to isolation from a world political science, the invention of "special" Russian political science. At last, its development directly depends on a demand of conclusions of a political science political practice, the government. As fairly noticed one of the first representatives of Russian political thought Yury Krizhanich (1618-1683), «From all wordly sciences the most noble science and all the madam is a policy, or royal wisdom. And from all sciences it is most decent to kings and their advisers».

Control questions to a theme

1. What means the term «a political science»?

2. What does the modern political science study? In what distinction of the existing points of view about political science?

3. What features of development of a political science in the USA?

4. Than it is possible to explain existence within the limits of one political science of set of private political disciplines?

5. How you think, Russia especially needs development what of branches of a political science for an explanation and understanding of processes occurring in it today?

6. What of existing methods of political science possesses, in your opinion, the big possibilities for an explanation of a modern situation in Russia?

7. In what lacks of the tsennostno-standard approach?

8. What gives a sociological method for understanding of the nature of a policy?

9. In what value бихевиористского a method?

10. What does psychoanalysis allow to open the new for knowledge of the world of a policy?

11. What of functions of a modern political science is most actual for Russia?

12. What value the political science for you has?

13. How the political theory in досоветский the period developed? What ideas of that period are of interest for modern Russia?

14. How development of the political theory in Soviet period has changed?

15. What lacks of development of a political science during the Soviet and Post-Soviet periods?

16. Why, in your opinion, the political science did not become a component of the mechanism of political development of Russia?

Logic tasks and problem questions

1. Thinkers of antiquity considered that the political science studies the state. Modern writers as a political science subject consider the power. How you think, than distinctions in understanding of a subject of political science are caused by thinkers of the past and modern researchers?

2. Often a policy define as art of the possible. Whether means it, what the political science as a science studying to the politician, cannot give objective knowledge of the political phenomena as they very much изменчивы, are connected with interests of people, and the political scientist as the person has predilections, sympathies and antipathies, therefore often exaggerates a role of one factors in the politician and underestimates value of others?

3. Properly, in your opinion, to understand the statement: «Heart of the state person should be at it in a head» (Napoleon)?

4. Under O.Bismarka's remark, «in the politician it is impossible to make the plan for long time forward, and blindly to follow in its frameworks». How you think, whether «the iron chancellor» was right? Give reason for the answer.