The idea to create the Department of Applied Politics was born at the beginning of 2005. One of the project’s initiators was Nina Belyaeva, Head of HSE’s Public Policy Department in Moscow and President of the Integral Fund. Work began on preparing the concept of the Department at the St. Petersburg Strategy Centre. In September 2005, the Academic Council of HSE St. Petersburg decided to found the joint department with HSE as part of the St. Petersburg Strategy Centre, and in December 2005, the Rector’s Council at HSE decided to create the Department of Applied Politics as part of HSE’s Faculty of Management. The first employees of the Department of Applied Politics were Professor Alexander Sungurov, currently Department Head, as well as Professor Vladimir Kostyushev and Associate Professor Liliana Proskuryakova.
The first intake for the bachelor’s programme took place in the summer of 2006. A total of 27 people were admitted as first year students, 22 of whom successfully completed the Politics programme in 2010.
At the end of 2008, work began on creating a master’s programme in politics.
In October 2009, the department hosted the international academic conference 'Political Culture as a Resource and Barrier to Innovative Development.'
The department selected students for two programmes – the bachelor’s and master’s programmes – in 2010. Fifteen students were admitted into the Political Institutions and Political Innovation programme, eight of whom graduated from the Department’s bachelor's programme.
In 2010, the department hosted the Russian-German academic conference 'Politics as a Factor in Innovative Development'.
Thanks to the efforts of the Student Scientific Society (SSS), the inter-university student academic conference, 'Russia at the Start of a New Decade', was successfully organized in May 2011. In December of the same year, the SSS of the Department of Applied Politics also helped organize the inter-university youth academic conference, 'Electoral Cycles and a New Wave of the Crisis in Russia and the World'.
In June 2012, the first graduation took place from the Political Institutions and Political Innovation master’s programme, where nine individuals received their master’s degree. In 2012, two specializations were created as part of the politics master’s programme – the Political Institutions and Political Innovation programme and the Management in Public Policy programme – which were subsequently combined under the title 'Politics and Management'. In 2012, a total of 22 students were admitted into the programme, of whom seven were graduates of the bachelor’s programme.
The post-graduate programme in politics was created as part of the department in 2012. In May 2012, the SSS organized the Russian student academic conference 'Institutional Changes in Russia and the World'.
In 2012, with the support of the HSE St. Petersburg Academic Development Fund, the department helped organize two international round tables. The first took place in February 2012 and was entitled 'Territorial Governance in Authoritarian States: Challenges and Replies', and the second was held in October 2012 and was entitled, 'Institutionalization of Human Rights: European and Russian Experience'.
In the same year, HSE’s St. Petersburg campus hosted the first annual conference of the Applied Politics Department called 'The October Readings', which has since become a central event in St. Petersburg in the field of political science. The theme of the first conference was 'Public Policy: Academic Discussions and Practical Embodiment', and brought together students and academics from Moscow, Kazan, Perm, Saratov, Barnaul, and, of course, St. Petersburg.
