Breakdown of Social Science Research in Russia. Impact on the Capacity for Understanding Russia in the West
Breakdown of Social Science Research in Russia. Impact on the Capacity for Understanding Russia in the West

Author(s): Dimitry Kokorin
Subject(s): Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Education and training, Political Sciences, International relations/trade, History and theory of sociology, Politics and Identity, Russian war against Ukraine
Published by: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů
Keywords: Social Sciences in Russia;
Summary/Abstract: While the Russian regime is keen to create intentional informational asymmetries and wage propaganda campaigns, the impact of such actions is being reinforced by the deterioration of independent research in Russian academia, the emigration of social scientists, and diminishing possibilities for collecting data in Russia, which affect scholars worldwide. The unintended consequences of measures aimed at isolating the Russian state-owned academic institutions triggered the cancellation of scientific cooperation at many levels. These processes bring a risk of diminishing opportunities for building a better understanding of events happening in Russia and the development of subsequent evidence-based policy responses. These implications can be partially mitigated by creating refuges for ‘scholars at risk’, monitoring which valuable research projects were cancelled, recreating these projects in new institutional settings, supporting groups of independent scholars, and keeping some channels of scientific communication open.

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