THE PROBLEM OF CONSTRUCTIVENESS OF THE YOUTH POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN THE MODERN RUSSIAN CONDITIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22394/2304-3369-2022-6-22-34Keywords:
youth, constructive political participation, political participation motivation, civil society, political activismAbstract
The new global and local trends in socio-political development draw increasing attention to the discussion in the scientific community about the constructiveness of the young people’s political participation. The issue is of both theoretical and methodological – the “constructive political participation” concept is underinter- preted and practical nature – the arbitrary use of this term reduces the youth activity management efficiency and creates opportunities for its ideologization.
Based on the political participation concepts analysis, the authors identify constructiveness criteria and offer a classification of constructive participation signs, and based on empirical research, reveal the poten- tial for constructive political participation of the Ural young activists.
Instrumental, activity, culturological and socialization approaches lay the theoretical and methodologi- cal foundations for searching the criteria of the young people’s political participation constructiveness. The empirical analysis is based on informal interviews with young political activists of the Urals Federal District (aged 18–30) who participate in the activities of youth organizations and structures created with the assis- tance and support of various political parties and movements (22 interviews).
According to the obtained results, two main motivational dominants have been identified in the political participation of young people: 1) importance of a just society and changes which could contribute to this;
2) opportunities for self-realization, personal success in politics. An analysis of ideological and value grounds of participation revealed the underdeveloped political views among some young politicians, an inability to formulate the ideas, which their political activity is built around. Another problem identified is lack of civic structures through which young people could influence the decisions taken.
It is concluded that despite the rather high potential for the constructiveness of the political participation of Ural activists, there are currently certain risks for its implementation, among which the most dangerous on is the youth polarization against the background of its politicization, the division into the mainstream approved "from above" and those disagreeing who are discriminated.
