Codebook, R-script, and data set of Russian government recommendations to textbooks (federal lists) in primary and secondary education from 2006-2020. Original data can be provided on request.
For the project: Education Under Threat? Navigating the Intersection of Informational Autocracy and Russian Education
Abstract
How do informational autocrats, who seek information control, govern education, which is a large information channel? In this thesis, I develop the concept of centralized curriculum control (“CCC”), as a survival strategy employed by informational autocrats. In the study, I explore the case of Russian education under President Vladimir Putin’s leadership. I employ original data from the Putin regime’s list of school textbooks between 2006 and 2020. The findings indicate a less diverse composition of textbook publishing houses, particularly in the fundamentals of life safety (“FLS”) subject following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, in comparison to non-societal disciplines. The history and social studies subjects experienced less increase than anticipated following the annexation, but market concentration was nevertheless higher for these subjects than for natural sciences. Further, efforts to instill regime friendly values in societal disciplines substantiate that centralization and educational content is used by the Putin regime to counter regime threats. I conclude that the Putin regime utilizes CCC, through various tools, to control educational content, which further enables it to infuse regime-friendly values in education. I also suggest that it is plausible that CCC is used by the regime to counter regime threats.