Social and political development: out of conceptual mazes and into political agenda-setting

Social and political development:
out of conceptual mazes and into political agenda-setting


Semenenko I.S.,

Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, semenenko@imemo.ru


elibrary_id: 251670 | ORCID: 0000-0003-2529-9283 |

Khaynatskaya T.I.,

Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, tatianakh@imemo.ru


elibrary_id: 1108737 | ORCID: 0000-0002-6364-4765 |

Article received: 2024.07.11 14:59. Accepted: 2024.08.05 14:59


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2024.06.05
EDN: ETDYLO


For citation:

Semenenko I.S., Khaynatskaya T.I. Social and political development: out of conceptual mazes and into political agenda-setting. – Polis. Political Studies. 2024. No. 6. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2024.06.05. EDN: ETDYLO (In Russ.)



Abstract

The article presents the results of the analysis and systematization of discourses describing the dynamics and key areas of social development. The purpose of the study is to determine the guidelines and priorities in discussions on development that dominate the research and expert agenda, and to identify the ideas and meanings that are invested in this concept by actors participating in public discussions and political goal-setting. The research methodology is based on the structural and functional approach, and on a comparative evaluation of the target settings present in the current expert discussion and in public policymaking. A quantitative content analysis of a sample of EU documents defining priorities of interaction with third countries to achieve development goals is offered as an illustrative example. The conclusions are presented in the form of a conceptual tree constructed by correlating the main concepts that exist in the research and expert field dealing with social development discourses and their political implications. According to the results of the study, the ideological appeal of narratives circulating in the public space of the “developed world” and the normative projection of this agenda worldwide transform discursive power into discursive hegemony through “green colonialism” and other forms of “promoting development”. The authors take a critical approach to the monopolization of the expert and political field by the concept of “sustainable development” which is widely regarded as a politically correct approach and a universalist political attitude. An ambiguous understanding of “social development” beyond the progressive paradigm and purely normative approaches in the social sciences makes the need to clarify this concept all the more urgent. The paper proposes to interpret “political development” as a multidimensional process leading to the complication of political interactions and not limited to institutional change, and “politics of development” as a system of management practices correlated with the public demand for security and social well-being. The current research agenda in this field in Russia aims to promote the analysis of the subjective dimension of politics, with a focus on identity studies and on evaluating intangible development resources.

Keywords
societal development, political development, development discourses, discursive power, sustainable development, green growth, welfare state, wellbeing economy, politics of development, development identity, narratives on development, responsible development.


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Content No. 6, 2024
В статье представлены результаты анализа и систематизации дискурсов, описывающих приоритеты и ключевые направления общественного развития. Цель исследования — определить ориентиры дискуссий о развитии, доминирующие в научном поле и в экспертном сообществе, выявить и систематизировать идеи и смыслы, которые вкладываются в это понятие субъектами, вовлеченными в дискуссии и в политическое целеполагание. Методология исследования опирается на структурно-функциональный подход и сравнительный анализ целевых установок, утвердившихся в экспертной дискуссии и в политической повестке. В качестве показательного примера приведены данные количественного контент-анализа выборки документов ЕС, определяющих приоритеты взаимодействия с третьими странами по достижению заявленных целей развития. Результаты представлены в виде понятийного древа, выстроенного на основе соотнесения ключевых подходов и понятий, бытующих в научном и экспертном поле. По итогам исследования выявлены тенденции идеологизации дискурсов в публичном пространстве “развитого мира”, продвижения за его пределы западоцентричной повестки путем трансформации дискурсивной силы в дискурсивную гегемонию посредством “зеленого колониализма” и других форм “содействия развитию”. Аргументирована критика произошедшей на рубеже XXI века монополизации экспертного и политического поля формулой “устойчивого развития”, вмененного в качестве политкорректного научного подхода и универсалистской политической установки. Поставлен вопрос о неоднозначном понимании развития за рамками прогрессистской парадигмы и сугубо нормативного видения, а также о назревшей потребности в концептуализации этого понятия в социальных науках. Обоснована трактовка политического развития как многомерного процесса усложнения политических взаимодействий, который не сводится к институциональным трансформациям, и политики развития — как продвижения перспективных приоритетов и управленческих практик, соотнесенных с общественным запросом на безопасность и социальное благополучие. Сделан вывод о формировании в российском научном поле запроса на осмысление субъективного измерения политики развития, о продвижении соответствующей повестки в рамках идентитарных исследований и изучения потенциала нематериальных ресурсов развития.

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See also:


Semenenko I.S.,
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Semenenko I.S.,
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Semenenko I.S.,
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Bardin A.L., Pantin V.I.,
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Zvereva T.V.,
On Russia in the World and the World in Russia (N.E. Bazhanova: Ad Memoriam). – Polis. Political Studies. 2015. No5

 
 

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