9
to the IR including Mezhdunarodnye protsessy, Kosmopolis and others dealing with
scientific and scientifically applied issues appeared. A circle of people involved in the
IR analysis and its teaching considerably widened both as to their number and to the
location of the research and education centers. Independent analytical centers were
founded as well
4
. Russia’s regions began to take an active role in the international arena
and thus became a subject of interest for the IR specialists.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s political science in Russia was in the process of
becoming a scientific discipline and a part of academic curriculum. Within this period
scientific magazines appeared, the Russian Association of Political Sciences was
formed, conferences were held and political science became a university discipline.
Relations between political science and the IR studies in all countries have never
been smooth. Historically both subjects were to a great extent isolated from each other
since from the very beginning they were pointed either at the study of a state as such
(political science) or at the interstate cooperation (IR). However, for quite a long time in
European and American universities the international relations as a rule have been
studied at the faculties of political science. Such “cohabitation” at the same faculties has
paid off: the distinction between two disciplines became blurred.
After 1991 many universities in Russia began teaching international relations and
historical faculties served as a basis, while political science usually developed within
philosophical faculties. It is worth adding that Russian political science to a great extent
is aimed at analyzing electoral behavior in Russia and this field does not have much in
common with the IR studies. Meanwhile it would not be right to contend that there are
insurmountable obstacles between political science and the international relations in
Russia. Both political scientists and specialists in the international relations hold heated
4
For details see: Tyulin I.G. Novie tendentsii v rossiiskikh issledovaniyakh mezhdunarodnikh otnoshenii /Sovremennye
meshdunarodnie otnosheniya I mirovaya politika // Pod redaktsiey A.V. Torkunova. - Moskva: Prosveshenie, 2004. – S.45-
65.
Convention