Kivinen, Markku: Finnish CoE in Russian Studies – Choices of Russian Modernisation

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been forced to create a new identity as a state and nation. The country has had to build a new political, social and economic system in the midst of the rapidly changing European and global order.

The CoE is researching Russian modernisation, which is understood as alternative choices defined by certain structural premises. The frameworks, concepts and theories of the differentiated scientific disciplines can produce only an insufficient analysis of Russia’s contradictory development, whereas “the Finnish school”, evolving within the CoE, can provide a new multi- and interdisciplinary research paradigm for an analysis of Russia’s modernisation. At the same time, it will open a new perspective on the key issues in the relations between Russia and the European Union.

The CoE will be exploring Russia’s modernisation from multiple angles ‒ at the macro, meso and micro level, as well as from a historical viewpoint. Specific concerns at the macro level include changes in the political, social and economic system, while the focus at the micro level will be on consumers and entrepreneurs, for instance. In other words, the CoE’s research agenda covers Russia as a whole, from major issues to small details, from past to future.

Common features in the CoE’s approach are specific research questions and theoretical and methodological bases. Besides generating scientific results, the CoE also opens new perspectives on informed policy-making both in Finland and Russia and even internationally.

Professor Markku Kivinen, University of Helsinki, tel. +358 9 191 23654, +358 50 563 6309, markku.kivinen(at)helsinki.fi

Sites of research: University of Helsinki (Aleksanteri Institute), University of Tampere