Controversial issues

Francis Fukuyama is author of the “The End of History and the Last Man” and one of our most important contemporary political thinkers, provides a sweeping account of how today's basic political institutions developed. The first of a major two-volume work "The Origins of Political Order: Origins of Political Order: From Pre-Human Times to the French Revolution" (2011) begins with politics among our primate ancestors and follows the story through the emergence of tribal societies, the growth of the first modern state in China, the beginning of the rule of law in India and the Middle East, and the development of political accountability in Europe up until the eve of the French Revolution.

In his new edition of “The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century” (2007) Thomas L. Friedman includes fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. Weaving new information into his overall thesis, and answering the questions he has been most frequently asked by parents and readers, this third edition also includes two new chapters - on how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world; and on the more troubling question of how to manage our reputations and privacy in a world where we are all becoming publishers and public figures. This book is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks - environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Lexus and the Olive Tree”.

In his book “Arab Spring, Libyan Winter” (2012) Vijay Prashad illustrated and analyzed how revolutionary wave spread to the far corners of the Arab world, from Morocco to Bahrain. It seemed as if all the authoritarian states would finally be freed, even those of the Arabian Peninsula. People's power had produced this wave, and continued to ride it out.

P. S.

• Books and topics, listed as controversial issues are proposed for students as topics for essay writing. Essay should be not more than 20 pages including list of used literature, title page, table of contents. Font “Times New Roman”, margins - 2 cm and 1,5 spaces.

• Next seminar-practicum will begin with test writing: all 10 questions of the test are composed from material of seminar-practicum topic “Political science: its origins, linkages and essence”.