International Politics

Political science in Shaninka is not about public service, management, and even less about diplomacy. It is primarily a way to understand and explain the world in which we all live; to collect a meaningful picture from hundreds of events that flash in front of our eyes daily to give an answer to the key question that interests not only political science, but any science in general - the question “Why?” Why does the electoral system design impact results of elections? Why do some states strive to possess nuclear weapons, while others do not even attempt to obtain them? Why has mass culture become a space for reflection and criticism of political problems? These issues along with hundreds of other equally interesting “Whys” are precisely in the center of our attention, and together we are looking for answers to them - in a dialogue with each other and also following the present-day standards, approaches, and practices adopted in European universities.

When we started our Political Science course, we were asked to explain in writing what we think politics is. Everyone started to write that it was all about news or people in suits who make decisions. It is not about us. And then we begin to discuss quite practical issues that we address in every day life. And you understand that politics is in any of your decisions. Politics is something that penetrates all layers of our society, regardless of whether a person understands it or not. The way how one beggar comes up to an agreement with another beggar, impacts decisions made at the very top of the society.

During my training in Shaninka I visited England twice: after the first and after the third year. During my first internship, I had a detailed look at Manchester. My second internship after the 3rd year was already a professional internship - we traveled jointly with students from Master Degree programs, and we were engaged in research work design. We were taught how to structure our text to make it readable and to get positive assessment. However, my internship in France was the most memorable for me. I am used to speaking English abroad. And here there was an attitude that you were in the same conditions as the others, and I realized that I could not say anything. But since everyone around me, I mean the students, felt the same, it somehow united us.

Our classes, without exception, are arranged as seminars. This means that the classroom becomes a space for creative dialogues and free discussions, without turning into a dull amphitheater hall, where everyone, both the lecturer and students, serve their duty an hour and a half long, fighting boredom and sleep. The seminar format also turns the classroom into a space of individual responsibility - forcing students to prepare harder at home, making them sharpen their saws in finding right arguments, and to be sensitive to ideas expressed by others, to work with data and be able to interpret them. That is why we work in such small groups: these skills simply cannot be developed otherwise than through the scrupulous, almost individual, work of a lecturer with a narrow circle of students.

Just as solo diving can be dangerous, writing texts without careful support from lecturers will have no effect. We demonstrate students the best examples of political science research as benchmarks for their own work, and then we together, text by text, sentence by sentence, argument by argument, in painstaking individual work, we comment on and edit what students write.

During the first year, I was told that there are no lectures attended simultaneously by all students: when there are approximately 300 students listening to one lecturer, I see no point in this. The fact that we do not have this practice here means that you can always ask the lecturer something directly, in the flow. Rather than waiting for the class to be over. All classes are arranged in narrow circles, i.e. in small groups with the teacher being on the same level with the students. I think this makes you feel comfortable and multiplies the amount of information that you take away from the class. Everything delivered in this format is more efficient. For example they asked us to read some book or article - and when in class we do not just listen to the lecturer’s interpretation, but with his help we discuss the text among ourselves. Through this practice, we see different points of view and we can proceed exploring them in class. Perhaps the lecturer is wrong! The inherent quality of human sciences is that everything can be looked at different angles. Your interpretation may differ from that of the lecturer, and it could be further discussed.

All our exams represent some kind of reflection on a given topic. It differs from the approach when you come into the exam room, take an exam ticket and start considering an answer. To write something, you really need to understand something. And it is impossible to pass the Shaninka exams if you have nothing inside. Our work is to constantly think about this topic. It was a regular thing for me – when the seminar was over, and I was already travelling in the metro, I still continued reflecting on some statements that hooked me during the seminar. That is how you work. In the end, you sit down to write an essay or come to an exam with some practical results, you have ideas. In this regard, Shaninka’s work is very creative.