Theses and term papers

Themes for term papers and theses

1. The Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA)

1.          The army in the political process and the state mechanism of the Arab countries;
2.          "Political contract" and "deliberateness" as principles of the political systems in the Arab countries;
3.          The influence of the state mechanism on party building in Arab countries;
4.          Traditional elements in the state mechanism of Arab monarchies;
5.          The problem of leadership in the political life of the Arab world;
6.          Tribalism, cronyism and regionalism in the socio-political life of Arab countries;
7.          Russia in the Middle East and Central Asia: opportunities and limits of cooperation with the countries of the region;
8.          Authoritarianism and democratic trends in the development of the Arab world;
9.          Education, urbanization and the economic foundations of the formation of a revolutionary situation;
10.          Youth as a factor of destabilization in the Middle East and Central Asia;
11.          Problems of federalization in the Arab world. Federalism and ethnic and confessional communities of Arab countries;
12.          Factors of socio-political destabilization in Arab countries after 2011;
13.          Conflicts in the Middle East and the reconfiguration of the Islamic State (IS)*
14.          World-System as a new phenomenon and factor in world politics;
15.          New conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa: their nature, trends and possible political and economic consequences, risks and threats;
16.          Social network technologies and the revolutionary process in the Arab countries;
17.          “Arab Spring” as a trigger of the global phase transition of the World-System;
18.          The political role of Islamic movements in Arab countries: dynamics and trends;
19.          The protest model of the Arab countries 2011-2012: problems of applicability to other regions of the world;
20.          The problem of the permissibility of violence against the authorities in the Arab-Muslim political culture.

 * The organization is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.

2. Central Asia and North Caucasus

1. Destabilization processes (revolutions, protests, strikes, etc.
2. Factors of protest activity in Central Asian countries (subnational, national, regional level);
3. Factors of protest activity in the regions of the North Caucasus;
4. Transformation of the political regimes of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan);
5. Political elites of the Central Asian States;
6. Transformation of regional political regimes in the North Caucasus;
7. Political elites of the North Caucasus regions;
8. Political processes in the post-Soviet states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan).

3. Post-Soviet macroregion

1. Nation building in the post-Soviet space;
2. Transformations of post-Soviet political regimes (factors, trajectories and patterns);
3. Realtion of political and demographic processes in the post-Soviet space;
4. Relation of political and socio-economic processes in the post-Soviet space;
5. Integration processes in the post-Soviet space;
6. Soviet legacy (political institutions, practices) in the post-Soviet space.

4. Sub-Saharan Africa

1. Russia-Africa relations;
2. Political processes in Sub-Saharan Africa;
3. Factors destabilizing political regimes in sub-Saharan Africa;
4. Radicalization processes in sub-Saharan Africa.