№ 3 - 2000
The Polis’ Message
Appeal of the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Political Scientists

The 2nd All-Russian Congress of Political Scientists held in Moscow on April 21 to 23 is an event of major significance for the entire corporation of specialists working in the sphere of political science. The main theme of the Congress was: «Russia. Political Challenges of the 21st Century». The forum gathered over 500 participants from 49 regions of Russia. 11 sections, with several subsections (seminars, workshops) within each, were organized, with subjects under discussion delimited according to respective scientific interests of the participants, where a multitude of reports were made and papers presented, followed by lively debates. Resolutions full of sharp criticism (published in this rubric) were, besides, approved by the Congress in response (1) to the adoption, by governmental departments, of new educational standards in the Humanities (these new standards are to exclude political science, sociology, cultural science, law, and some other disciplines from the number of those compulsory for the higher educational institutions) and (2 ) to the illogical reduction of the nomenclature of specialities in the sphere of political science. These ill-considered steps impede normal development of Russian political science; what is more, they tend to damage the level and quality already achieved by Russia’s humanitarian culture. In the present rubric an article by Professor Ya.A.Pl’ays is published, under the title: «Does Russia Need Political Science?», laying down the substance of the above problems. The «Polis» has called upon its readers in the regions of Russia to hamper by all means (publications, appeals, well thought-out local educational programmes etc.) the officialdom’s new policy in the sphere of the Humanities.