Course description

The course “Introduction to the specialty” is considered to be a leading, instructive discipline for students of the specialty “International relations, public communications and regional studies” specialization “Сountry studies”, which from the first year opens a wide range of directions, thematic blocks, general schemes of country studies. From the very beginning of their studies, students must get acquainted with the ambiguity and contradiction of the interpretation of country studies as a synthetic interdisciplinary science; with a wide range of typological approaches, general definitions of the most used concepts and terms. The course is of great theoretical and practical importance as students will be able to use the acquired knowledge and skills in a specific case study during their further studies. The following thematic blocks are covered: “Country Studies as a Social Discipline”, “Country Studies Aspects of the Population Study of the Country”, “Typology and Regionalization of the Countries of the World”, “Economic System of the Country”. “Political system of the Сountry”, “Population Studies in Country Studies”, “Country Studies Aspects” of international relations of the state” and others.

The objective of the discipline is to familiarize the students with the basic principles of scolarly country studies, history of formation and development of country studies, the main blocks of socio-historical, geographical, demographic, ethnographic, socio-economic, political, cultural, legal and ideological components of the development of the country. During the course, students are exposed to the logic and cause and effect relationship between the tasks, the means used and the results obtained in the country study (state) as a complex socio-historical, socio-economic and political phenomenon, the basic approaches to the analysis of the place and role of the country in contemporary international relations are clarified.

As a result of studying this course the student should know:

– the object and the subject of scolarly country studies,

– the main component-blocks of the state;

– emerging groups of factors that determine the mechanisms of functioning of the economic, political and legal system of the country;

– understand the complexity, interdependence and contradiction of the links between different components and factors of social development of a country.

As a result of studying this subject the student should be able to:

– to use national terminology to analyze the spheres and directions of public life of the state;

– establish a cause-effect relationship, means, tools and consequences of different policy areas of the state;

– to synthesize scientific knowledge using an interdisciplinary approach to build a holistic view and shape the image of the country