Republican Freedom | Book Presentation | Open lecture

On April 24, at 7 PM (Tyumen, GMT+5), the School for Advanced Studies (SAS) will hold an open lecture by Oleg Kharkhordin, Classical Republican Tradition in the 21st Century. It coincides with the presentation of his books: Res-Publica, or the Public Affair (2020) and Republic. Full Version (2021).

Freedom is inherent in Russia. It is just that this freedom is not of a liberal, but a republican type. Over the past 20 years in political theory, republicanism has been understood as a 2000-year tradition of thinking about the life of free communities, which is an alternative to liberalism, but also protecting the freedoms of an individual, in contrast to, say, nationalism and various versions of conservative or religious thought. Starting with Cicero, Livy, and Tacitus, followed by Machiavelli and Contarini and flourished in the writings of the Republicans during the English, American and French revolutions and during the Russian Enlightenment, this tradition highlights what liberalism ignores; it is the unique concept of freedom (i.e., individual autonomy), the value of civic courage, participation in community affairs and recognition of everyone’s contribution to the development of the republic.

Oleg Kharkhordin is a Russian historian and political scientist, professor at the Department of Political Science at the European University at St. Petersburg (EUSP), director of the Res Publica Center, Chairman of the Board of the EUSP Foundation.