Political Modernization in Russian Empire/USSR/post-Soviet Regimes

Dr. Mykhailo Minakovs research is dedicated to processes of modernization and evolution of political cultures in imperial Russia/Soviet Union/Post-Soviet Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Taking into account a multitude of modernization processes in which political reason manifests itself, he concentrates on the analysis of mutual impacts of philosophy and politics, as well as government policies towards philosophy/social sciences and humanities in universities and outside (mainly in public sphere) for the period of 1801 – 2010 in the lands of Western Eurasia. His main hypothesis is that analysis of interrelationships between authorities and philosophy/social sciences and humanities during the Eastern European modernization can identify the main factors defining the role, limits and functions of public rationality in political life of contemporary Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Antidemocratic tendencies in political lives of Eastern European countries are based on legitimacy structured by dominance of irrational values and distrust in societies.
Dr. Mykhailo Minakov received his Doctor of Sciences in philosophy in 2007 from the Institute of Philosophy, Kyiv, and is Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He is alumnus of Zaporozhye Medical School and University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Mykhailo Minakov has also studied at TU Dresden and Cambridge University. In recent years, he worked at Harvard University and Kennan Institute. Currently, in addition to his academic post, Mykhailo Minakov is Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, editor-in-chief of the Ideology and Politics Journal, and Head of the Kant Society in Ukraine. Mykhailo Minakov is the author of 3 books and approximately 70 articles in philosophy, political analysis, and cultural critique. This year he will research the topic “Philosophy and Authority in Russian empire/Soviet Union/Post-Soviet Countries” through description and analysis of how philosophy, political regimes, approaches to governance, and the development of cultural identities since the 19th century are related within the framework of social modernization in the Western Eurasia.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Alexander Wöll