Toleration and Recognition
The Centre for Comparative Studies of Toleration and Recognition is an interdisciplinary research unit established in 2014 at the Institute of Social and Political Sciences and supported by the “Competitiveness Enhancement Program” Fund. Intellectual historians, philosophers, social and political scientists combine their expertise in studying how multiethnic and multiconfessional communities find their particular models of mutually advantageous coexistence and develop approaches to resolving conflicts in a non-violent way.
The Centre is directed by Professor Martin van Gelderen, an outstanding specialist in intellectual history, whose works on Hugo Grotius and on early modern philosophy have been recognized as a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in the history of political thought. Martin van Gelderen, currently a director of Lichtenberg Kolleg at the University of Goettingen, previously a dean of History and Civilization Department at the European University Institute, is acclaimed for his research organization and management as well as for his academic achievements. The Centre continues and expands the research focus on tolerance initially developed within the Ural Centre for Advanced Studies and Education (UCASE). The co-director Professor Maxim Khomiakov who supervised the UCASE for 15 years and is one of the leading specialists on tolerance in Russia, guides the research activities, which focus on Russian intellectual history.
Currently the Centre runs research projects in cooperation with scholars from University of Goettingen, Utrecht University, University of Copenhagen, University of Southern Denmark, and University of Belgrade. Since 2014, the Centre’s collaborators have presented their research at numerous international conferences, published articles in high-impact journals and have been awarded 4 research grants from international foundations and 6 grants from Russian foundations. The Centre encourages its collaborators to pursue interdisciplinary research ranging from empirical research of practices and patterns of tolerant social interaction in multiethnic families, public institutions, and urban communities, to conceptualizations of tolerance and justice in political parties’ manifestoes, confessional “social doctrines,” and political philosophical discourses.
The Centre is open to cooperation in research with partners from Russian and international academic institutions and offers its expertise in social sustainability policy and conflict prevention to governmental and non-governmental agencies.
Created / Updated: 29 October 2015 / 6 May 2019