Maturity Exam: Germanic Regional Studies in Modern Russia

Abstract

The article covers the development of German area studies in modern Russia. The authors note that over the past three decades the discipline has passed a rather difficult and winding path that has yet to be comprehended. After the Soviet Union collapsed, science funding was reduced drastically, which in turn led to the "washout" of an entire generation of researchers. The methodological crisis of Russian science, which had to look for new ways of development in an era of changes, became painful as well. In the mid-2000s, the position of German area studies in Russia improved a bit both due to the expansion of cooperation with German scientific foundations and institutes and to the appearance of young researchers in science. By this time, the main directions of research of scientists and graduate students were outlined. In the field of historical science, the main emphasis was on the study of the 1930-1940s, Russian-German relations, etc. Political scientists and international affairs specialists focused on the transformation of Germany's foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and elections. The main research topics for geographers and economists were the entry of Germany into the global economy, Russian-German cooperation in the energy sector, geography of industry, etc. At the same time, by the mid-2010s, a number of problems emerged that needed to be solved. The most important of them are the lack of a middle generation of researchers, insufficient funding, focus on narrow topics, lack of basic research, etc.