Learning Democracy and Exploring Russia

On May 10 – 19 students of HSE- Nizhny Novgorod and University of Utah Valley (USA) took part at the international school “Democracy in the Contemporary World” held at Higher School of Economics – Nizhny Novgorod within the Masters’ Program on Political Linguistics.

The keynote lecturers were professor of University of Utah Valley Michael Minch and professor of HSE-Nizhny Novgorod Natalya Gronskaya. Democracy theory, history and contemporary state of world conflicts, comparative analysis of American and Russian political systems, political media discourse, - those were the main themes of the school.

The program included  not only in-class studies, but also outreach activities: a meeting with a youth wing of Nizhny Novgorod city Duma as well as round-table talks between the school participants and representatives of the Youth chamber of Nizhny Novgorod oblast Legislative Council.

Alaa Assaf from Syria, who is taking a course on Russian language and Culture at HSE- NN, presented his homeland at one of the sessions. He told the school’s participants about Syria’s history, economy, and culture, constant country’s problems and the current. Arguments and different views on international issues did not prevent the school’s participants from becoming friend and having good time together. City sightseeing, excursion to Nizhny Novgorod museum of fine arts, a trip to Khokhloma factory in Semenov, the Golden Ring tour, - this was the busy out-of-class program that helped American students ruin stereotypes and get better understanding of Russia.

School “Democracy in the Contemporary World” is organized at HSE – Nizhny Novgorod once in two years. It is the second school, the next one is planned for 2019.