Fall 2024: October 1 – October 29
Faculty: Ilia Venyavkin, Masha Gessen, Aleksey Gilev, Ilya Kalinin
Subject: PS (Political Science)
Number of Credits: non-credit bearing course
Max Enrollment: 40
Schedule: 5 weeks (October 1 – October 29), Tuesday 17:00 – 20:00 CET (Berlin) | 11:00 – 13:00 EDT (New York)
Language of Instruction: Russian
Course Prerequisites: Russian B2 / Equivalent or higher
Attestation: Smolny Beyond Borders Certificate

For more than ten years, Alexei Navalny was the most influential and inventive public politician in Russia. During this time, he faced increasing pressure, changed himself, and changed the usual ideas about what a politician does in Russia. Only his murder in February 2024 was able to stop this process of transformation.

This short course is an attempt to understand the politician’s political legacy and discuss what ideas, tactics, and strategies he brought to the political struggle. The course consists of 5 classes. First, we will look at how Navalny worked with the media, how he mobilized his supporters, how he imagined the future political structure of the country, and then we will summarize the results in the final discussion.

Guidelines for the Statement of Purpose:

Craft a reflective statement of purpose explaining your interest in the Smolny Beyond Borders online course. The file should be saved with your name and course title as the filename and uploaded accordingly. Your statement’s clarity and substance will significantly influence our selection. Convey your motivations and aspirations for this course succinctly but thoroughly. Kindly write your statement in the course’s Language of Instruction.

Application Portal Instructions:
1) Use the Latin alphabet for all entries on the portal, including your name. If the Language of Instruction is Russian, you may use Cyrillic only within the Statement of Purpose file, and the title of the file should still be in English.
2) Refrain from using email addresses associated with Russian or Belarusian educational institutions.
3) While completing the “Required Information” section, ensure you fill in the “Province” field for your address.
4) Provide an address outside Russia or Belarus in both the “Required Information” and “Geographic Location Confirmation” sections of the “Online Course Application”. This ensures we can send your transcript.
5) You must press the “Sign” button twice during the application.
6) If you hold a bachelor’s degree, select “4th+” in the “Academic Year (online)” section.
7) Applicants either unaffiliated or affiliated with educational institutions in Russia and Belarus should list ‘Smolny Beyond Borders’ as their educational institution.
8) In the student ID section, enter ‘SBB’.
9) Consider drafting your motivation letter ahead of time. Save it as a separate file with this format: LastName_FirstName_CourseTitle for a smoother application process.