Introduction. The article is devoted to the analysis of the protest political mobilization in the regional political space of Volgograd region. Particular attention is paid to the study of the main conditions and causes of protest activity in the context of implementing public policy in Volgograd region. The relevance of the problem field is due to the need for a political analysis of the characteristics of the population mobilization at the regional level, including their comparison with federal trends. Methodology and methods. The authors conceptualize political mobilization on the basis of the theoretical principles of the theory of collective behavior of G. Blumer, E. Hoffer, T. Garr and the rational basis for the mobilization of D. Gupt. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of collective action (Ch. Tilly), on the basis of which it is concluded that political mobilization is defined as a combination of institutional and social conditions that allow actors to rationally evaluate transaction costs and possible gains from mobilization actions. The analysis of the regional public policy system is based on the conclusions contained in the works of Yu.O. Gaivoronsky, S.I. Morozov, S.A. Pankratov. The empirical basis of the study is the public opinion polls of the Levada Center, expert and analytical materials on the state of protest activity of the Institute of Regional Expertise, as well as the results of monitoring data from Internet resources obtained with the direct participation of the authors in March 2020. Analysis. The modern Russian socio-political system is a synthesis of two opposites: a hermetically “closed” institutional political structure, which is determined by the situation of internal uncertainty, and an active social component. At the same time, the specifics of the regional public space of Volgograd Region is a combination of the subject composition of the institutional design of the regional political regime based on copying the features of the federal regime, as well as the diversity of the regional themes of socio-political protest. Based on the results obtained by the case-study method, it was found that the protest dynamics in Volgograd region show a downward trend, however, any manifestations of public protest activity in the region implicitly imply a political nature in direct proportion to the number of participants: the greater the number of participants in the protest stocks, the higher the degree of its politicization. Results. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that the protest political mobilization in the public space of Volgograd region is characterized by: firstly, the prevalence of regional problems over federal ones in the protest discourse; secondly, the lack of strong institutional structures that can mobilize material and organizational resources; thirdly, a critically low number of protesters; fourthly, the spontaneous nature of mobilization. A special feature of political mobilization in the regional dimension is the low social potential of the protest and the lack of effective mechanisms for political and communicative interaction between government institutions and the population of Volgograd region on a specific range of problems of a public nature. In order to overcome the shortcomings of dialogue communication, within the framework of representative democracy, the authors propose recommendations for the main actors of the public political space (regional authorities, expert community and civil society institutions).
Introduction. The article is devoted to the analysis of the interaction between government and society in modern Russia, expressed in the phenomenon of trust. The focus of the authors’ attention is directed to the study of the impact of crisis upheavals (the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine) on the change in the trust of the population of the Russian Federation in the main political institutions. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to fix the existing forms of interaction between the authorities and society as well as identify the prospects for changing these practices in the perspective of society’s transition to a post-crisis state. Methods and materials. The methodological basis of the study was the neo-institutional approach, which made it possible to present trust because of the activity of political institutions in building and observing the “rules of the game.” The empirical basis of the study is public opinion polls conducted by the largest Russian sociological centers. Analysis and results. Trust in political institutions is presented as an important phenomenon of civilized societies, characterizing the importance of rules rather than specific personalities. The study revealed that in Russia, crisis situations, which are institutionally determined trajectories caused by external shocks that change the “rules of the game” that have developed in society and forms of communication with the authorities, are a condition for an exponential growth of trust (both generalized and institutional). At the same time, during crises, an increase in the level of trust is observed even for institutions that are traditionally criticized by most of society (such as the government and the State Duma). The youth, being reactionary and variable in their political behavior, show increased trust in political institutions. However, if adult trust is based on emotional hope for the future, youth trust is usually based on rational grounds. Yet a sharp increase in trust in the main political institutions during crises can be replaced by the same rapid decline in the conditions of “normality” when the traditional problems of socio-economic development again come to the fore on the agenda formed by society. Authors’ contributions. S.I. Morozov carried out an analysis of studies on institutional trust in modern Russia, chose and substantiated the theoretical and methodological framework of the work, and also formed the general concept of the study. K.M. Makarenko summarized and analyzed empirical data on the research topic, substantiated the role and impact of crisis shocks on institutional trust in the Russian Federation, and formulated the main conclusions of the work.
Introduction. The article is devoted to the analysis of the formation and spread of protest discourse in new practices of protest behavior. Online rallies, which appeared in 2020 in the public space of Russia, remained an unobtrusive practice, despite their potential applicability within the framework of a single logic of “competitive politics”. Methods and materials. The research methodology is based on the theory of “relative deprivation” (T. Garr), “competitive politics” (C. Tilly) and the theory of “network society” (M. Castells). As specific research methods, the author used a selective analysis of cases of protests in the period 2018–2021 (42 actions in 26 regions of the Russian Federation), as well as discourse analysis, which made it possible to determine the topic of protest actions. Analysis. The political discourse of protest is a communicative space for the construction of common symbols and identity of the movement. The formation of discourse takes place in the online space, which is due to the development and simplicity of communication between individuals. Results. On the basis of the analysis, some conclusions were drawn about the specifics of the formation of protest discourse in the online environment: 1. Discourse is formed in open online platforms, such as groups in VKontakte, Telegram chats or Internet forums; 2. Protest communities are engaged in information and mobilization functions regardless of the number of participants (at the same time, the effectiveness of audience engagement and, as a result, feedback will differ significantly); 3. The main topic of protest actions is represented by opportunistic problems of a civil nature, where there is an immanent opportunity for the transformation of discourse into a political (anti-political) one; 4. The most popular (the number of likes and comments) are posts in groups on social networks containing a direct call to participate in rallies, as well as short emotional slogans and memes.
The institutionalization of public space in the subjects of the Russian Federation is characterized by the alignment of regional systems of political communication, which have both common basic structural elements and specific parameters determined by several factors and conditions. The article analyzes the emergence and development of the system of political communication between the institutions of regional power (primarily the executive power) and citizens in the Volgograd Region amidst the growing influence of global problems (such as the spread of COVID-19), the conduct of the special military operation in Ukraine, international sanctions against Russia, etc. At the same time, the novelty of the authors’ approach lies not so much in the study of the information and communication openness in the regional politics, but in identifying the nature of civil and political trust between the leading actors of communication in the Volgograd Region. Combining the action and political-communicative approaches allowed the authors to build a methodological strategy for the analysis of institutional and non-institutional actors of regional public policy that have different resources affecting the level and dynamics of mutual trust in the communication process. The paper argues that at present both the political activity, including the protest of the population, and the ability to reproduce sustainable and stable development are largely depending on the level of mutual trust between the regional authorities and the citizens. The authors attempt to identify the dominant factors that determine the vectors of trust and confrontation in the regional system of political communications.
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