Using fiction in teaching political science

Abstract

The authors suggest a non conventional technique of teaching political science. The idea is to use fi ction in the study of basic topics of political science. The main purpose of this technique is to develop the creative thinking in students, to teach them to form their own defi nitions of political processes under the way, to analyze the causal connections between them, and to fi nd non-standard solutions for problems of diff erent complexity. To illustrate the use of the technique, the authors describe exercise sessions in the course ‘Introduction to political science’ taught to freshmen at the Faculty of Applied Political Sciences at the HSE.