№ 4 - 2001
Belenkevich V.
Dwelling on Scandinavia - for the Love of Russia (What the Secret of a Not Boring Text in Political Science Lies With)

In reviewing this book on the political systems of Scandinavian countries and Finland (by three authors: M.A.Isayev, A.N.Chekansky, V.N. Shishkin), V.Belenkevich is mostly concentrated on its methodological constituent, on its, as he puts it, «explicit methodology, mastery of which allows to analyze political situations in any place of the world». The reviewer’s attention is attracted by the notable fact that the characterization of the political system of the region’s countries arises and unfolds together with the characterization of the process of the genesis and development of political science itself - in the West in general and in Scandinavia in particular. The reviewer demonstrates that a text in political science thus constructed finally comes out uncommonly absorbing; it reveals in the very substance of the political situation described, in the very gist of events explored, quite a few lessons topical for Russia “facing today, let’s say it frankly, far from trivial tasks...”