Yuri Pochta

Research and Innovation

RUDN Scientists

Yuri Pochta

Doctor of Philosophy

Professor, chair of comparative political science

“Knowledge itself is power” (F. Bacon)

+7 (499) 936-85-22 ext.: 2522

pochta-yum@rudn.ru

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Scientific interests:

Islam Muslim society Muslim world Muslim factor philosophy of history Eurocentrism philosophy of history philosophy of politics philosophy of law international relations methodology of comparative political research

1978

Graduated Faculty of Economics and Law of Peoples ' Friendship University named after Patrice Lumumba (now -Peoples ' Friendship University of Russia, RUDN) specialized in “International Law”.

1982

Defended the candidate thesis on “Dialectics of the General and Special in Formation of Arab-Muslim Society” in specialty “Ontology and theory of knowledge”.

1993 - 2005

Deputy director of Interuniversity center for humanities education in philosophical comparative studies at RUDN.

1994 - 2006

Executive secretary of eight international philosophical symposia “Dialogue of civilizations: East-West” (Moscow, RUDN).

1995

Defended the doctoral thesis on “Muslim Society in European Philosophy of History” in specialty “History of Philosophy”.

1996 - 2006

Deputy Dean for research work of the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of RUDN.

1997

Awarded the title of Professor at the Department of Social Philosophy.

1998 - present

Member of Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, Washington D.C.; member of the Russian philosophical society.

1999 - 2005

Performed the duties of the scientific secretary of Dissertation Council on Philosophical Sciences at RUDN.

2000 - 2010

Member of European society for Central Asian Studies, the Netherlands.

2001 - 2006

Expert of Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation (RHNF). Member of Board of National Board of Political Scientists -Teachers of Russia.

2002 - 2020

Chairman of Dissertation Council on Political Science at RUDN.

2005 - present

Chief Editor of the journal “Vestnik RUDN. Series: “Political science”.

2005

Awarded the title of Honorary worker of higher professional education of the Russian Federation.

2005 - 2015

Head of the Department of comparative political science at the faculty of Humanities and social Sciences of RUDN.

2005 - 2007

Was the member of Nordic-Baltic-Russian PhD network of democratic governance, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Department of Government.

2007 - 2015

Chairman of Scientific and Technical Council of RUDN.

2008 - 2015

Member of Russian Academy of Social Sciences.

2010 - 2018

Professor of the Department of Social Philosophy of the faculty of philosophy of Russian State University for the Humanities.

2014 - 2018

Independent expert of Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Strasbourg, France.

2014 - present

Director of the main vocational educational program of higher education of RUDN-the program for training scientific and pedagogical staff in postgraduate studies in the direction of “Political science and regional studies”.

2014 - 2015

Awarded the title of Honored worker of higher education of the Russian Federation.

2015 - present

Member of the editorial board of the scientific journal “Vestnik of Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University”, Series: Sociological and Political Sciences", Kazakhstan.

2016 - present

Member of the Federal educational and methodological association on the enlarged group of training areas “Political science and regional studies” (Political Science, International Relations, Oriental and African Studies, Foreign Regional Studies, Regional Studies of Russia).

2016 - present

Member of the editorial board of the scientific journal “ Islam in modern world” (included in the list of HAC).

2017 - present

Member of the editorial board of the scientific journal “Debating Europe”, Portugal.

Teaching

Pochta Yu.M. teaches the following courses for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students of RUDN:

“Islam and Politics”
“Political culture: Russia-West-East”;
“Current problems of comparative political science”;
“Comparative political science”;
“Modern Islam and politics”;
“Strategic stability and strategic balance in context of new system formation of international relations”;
“Politics in Countries of East”;
“Political regional studies”;
“Organization of research work in Russian Federation”.

Science

For the first time in Russian science, Pochta Yu. M. conducted a comprehensive study of the conceptual mechanisms of including Muslim society in the picture of world history created in European and Russian philosophy of history of XVIII -XX centuries and showed their ideological orientation.
Developed a new approach to the analysis of the ratio of cognitive and value components in the philosophical and historical explanations of the history of Muslim society based on the recognition of the objective and dynamic nature of Eurocentrism.
Gave an explanation of the dichotomy of linear and cyclical interpretations of the direction of human history in the philosophical and historical constructions of European thinkers who dealt with the problem of Muslim society.
Showed the importance of Islamic subject matter in the spiritual quest of a number of prominent European and domestic thinkers.
Conducted a detailed analysis of the UN's activities and proposed measures for its reform in terms of the most effective functioning in the emerging system of international relations.
Analyzed the current trends in the functioning of civil society structures in the world and in Russia, as well as the influence of political culture on the activities of civil society in the transition from modern to postmodern. Pochta Yu.M. showed that it is necessary to revise the West-center perception of non-Western societies by deconstructing it and searching for alternative positive histories that recognize the identity of both Western and other civilizations. In this way, one can solve the problem of universality of the Western concept of civil society and recognize that all human societies strive to create their own version of civil society.

Scientific interests

methodology of comparative political research
philosophy of politics
philosophy of law
Islamic studies

Pochta Yu. M. Muslim society between fundamentalism and liberalism: the problem of civil society // Bulleten of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Series: Political science, 2017, v.19, №1, pp.15-24.

The author examines the issue of civil society in the Muslim world in general and in Russia in particular. It received a special significance after the Cold War, when liberal democracy and the concept of civil society were proclaimed as universal models, able to explain features of the modernization process. Research and practical realization of this process in non-Western societies is strongly influenced by the identification of the institution of civil society with the Western post-Christian civilization, with liberal political culture. However, historical experience shows that civil society cannot be transferred from a different social environment, it must grow on its own culture. This totalizing universalistic thinking and the functionalist-evolutionist modernization approaches are not conducive to finding an answer to the question of the existence of civil society in non-Western societies. It needs a civilizational approach, a historical analysis of cultural contexts of occurring processes of modernization, establishing a market economy, democratic political regimes and civil society. The contemporary postmodern discourse supposes civilizational multiplicity of political modernity and political modernization process. The key in these circum- stances is a question about the peculiarities of the coexistence in the modern world societies at different stages of social development. In particular, it is necessary to take into account the possible coexistence of several pre secular cultures (Islamic, Confucian) and liberal democracy as post secular phenomenon.

Pochta Yu. M. Development of the Russian model of federalism: relationships of center and regions in 2007-2016 // Bulleten of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Series: Political science, 2016. № 3. pp. 97-115.

This article was written by Yuriy Pochta for the Council of Europe and was published in the spring of 2016 in the collection: Regionalisation trends in European countries 2007-2015. A study by members of the Group of Independent Experts of the European Charter of Local Self-Government / Editor: Prof. Francesco Merloni. Strasburg, 2016. Yuriy Pochta is a member of a group of independent experts of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-seven member states of the Council of Europe. The Congress entrusted the Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government with the task of producing a comparative academic study. This study is based on information from Council of Europe member States affected by the regionalisation process and on recent regionalisation developments in Europe. The intention is to review the situation regarding regionalisation since the 2007 report of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR). Following on from this, the idea is to achieve a broader understanding of the phenomenon from both the legal and institutional angles. The main aim of this study is to evaluate regionalisation trends, towards both more and less regionalisation, in individual countries and consequently in Europe as a whole. At the same time it seeks to determine whether the various countries considered actually have regional institutions as defined by the 2009 Council of Europe Reference Framework for Regional Democracy. In preparing his section on Russia, Yuriy Pochta proceeded from the fact that the modern Russian state emerged relatively recently at the turn of 1980-90-s. of the 20th century and its formation, including its federal structure continues. It is shown that since 2007 the process of regionalization of the Russian Federation is developing successfully. Having opted for the creation of a democratic society, post-Soviet Russian Federation borrowed Western model, adapting it to its own circumstances. The impact of these conditions leads to the fact that it is quite difficult to relate the existing Russian federal system to the classic Western model. On this occasion Russian and Western scholars participate in a lively debate about the nature of Russian federalism whether it is real or a simulation, whether it is in the crisis. But in 2014, in connection with the entry of the Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, Russian federalism issues become even more urgent, raising a number of questions about the evolution of Russian federalism, the possibility of the organic integration of the two new subjects in the federation in a situation of sharp complication of Russia's relations with the West, led by the United States, caused by the political and socio-economic crisis in the Republic of Ukraine.

Yuriy Pochta is a member of a group of independent experts of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-seven member states of the Council of Europe. The Congress entrusted the Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government with the task of producing a comparative academic study. This study is based on information from Council of Europe member States affected by the regionalisation process and on recent regionalisation developments in Europe. It is shown that since 2007 the process of regionalization of the Russian Federation is developing successfully. Having opted for the creation of a democratic society, post-Soviet Russian Federation borrowed Western model, adapting it to its own circumstances.

Pochta Yu. M. Crisis of the Society and its Contemporary Challenges (example of fundamentalism // Estudos do Século XX - Crises de Século N. 10/ Dezembro 2010, (Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal). P.233-244, 2010.

The article discusses the crisis of the globalized society and its challenges. Contemporaneity is the era of transition from unfinished modern to postmodern, which has no relation to the majority of humanity. Those who cannot tolerate the historical stress of social transformation, seek refuge in fundamentalism. The author shows that fundamentalism is not an archaic phenomenon, but the product of modern and even included in the postmodern. Postmodern inevitably deprives any fundamentalism of its metanarrative status and translates it into a game, a virtual form, simulacrum.

Information about the defended postgraduate students

Mikhail Kosmachev
Country: Russia
Year of protection: 2015
Research topic: Crisis of the formation of a supra-ethnic community in the post-Soviet political space
Annotation to the dissertation: The thesis shows that the basis of the Soviet political space and the supra-ethnic community is the use of practices of nation-state and Empire building. The result of this confusion was the hybridization of both political space and the supra-ethnic community. The collapse of the Soviet Union revealed three divergent trends in relation to ethnicity: "escape to ethnicity" of individuals and elites (the"ethnization" of the policy); the creation of institutions of the nation-state; the use of the Imperial practices of interaction between elites and ethnic groups. The hybridity of the post-Soviet political space testifies to the continuity of the post-Soviet period in relation to the Soviet period, and is a response to the disintegration processes caused by the collapse of the USSR, an attempt to "freeze" further disintegration.

Saberi Fahime
Country: Iran
Year of protection: 2016
Research topic: Determinants of social and political transformations in Egypt in 2011-2013: political analysis
Annotation to the dissertation: The thesis is devoted to the study of political causes and analysis of the factors of revolutionary events in Egypt in 2011-2013. The author of the study examines the reasons for the popularity of the" Muslim Brotherhood " and in general the ideas of political Islam in Egypt. The analysis made it possible to determine the degree of influence of the "Arab spring" on political and economic stability in Egypt and to note the importance of further study of the stated problems.

Duong Thi Ha
Country: Vietnam
Year of protection: 2018
Research topic: Parliamentary system of government in Vietnam and Thailand: conditions and factors for achieving political stabilit
Annotation to the dissertation: The dissertation examines the mutual functioning of the institutions of the parliamentary system to achieve political stability in modern Vietnam and Thailand. The author notes that the establishment of the democratic parliamentary system in Vietnam and Thailand is the inevitable result of the political history of the two countries. Parliamentarism is the best choice for the authorities of these two countries, called to rally the nation and unite the various political parties. Formation of a national representative body is of great importance in stabilizing society and consensus among civil society organizations, social sectors and government, and is an important factor that allows both countries to build appropriate diplomatic strategy and to ensure internal stability. In modern conditions, the implementation of democratic transformation and strengthening the effectiveness of parliamentary activities contribute to improving the political situation in Vietnam and Thailand.