Protest Activity of Russians in 2012–2013

Protest Activity of Russians in 2012–2013


Semenov A.V.

Cand. Sci. (Polit.), Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia; Senior Researcher, Center for Comparative History and Politics, Perm State University, Perm, Russia andreysemenov@comparativestudies.ru

ID of the Article:


For citation:

Semenov A.V. Protest Activity of Russians in 2012–2013. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2018. No 11. P. 53-63




Abstract

The focus of this paper is the dynamics of contention in Russia in 2012-2013. Using the protest event analysis developed within the sociology of social movements data on 4,475 protest actions in all Russian regions have been compiled. The data reveal the spatial aspect of collective mobilization, organizational sponsors, repertoire and major targets of the protests. Among the stable characteristics of protest activity are the symbolic nature of the repertoire and public authorities as the most frequent aim. The Communist Party (KPRF) and trade unions constitute the organizational backbone for collective actions. Local residents and initiative groups are among the most active organisers as well. Citizens protested against electoral fraud during the 2012–2013 «For Fair Elections!» campaign; they also raised demands about social policy, economy, and the quality of governance. Principal component analysis (PCA) on the host of regional indicators reveals the underlying structure in the cross-regional variation in protest activity: the most significant covariates of public contention in the regions are the population size, level of urbanization, GRP, and the level of political openness.


Keywords
contentious politics; protests; event analysis; social movements; subnational politics; collective actions; mobilization

References

Baranova G.V., Frolov V.A. (2012) Methodology and Methodic for Measuring Social Tension. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 3: 50–65. (In Russ.)

Beissinger M. (2002) Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State. Cambridge University Press.

Bizyukov P.V. (2011) Dynamics of Labor Protests in Russia (2008–2011). Vestnik obshchestvennogo mneniya: dannyye, analiz, diskussii [The Public Opinion Herald: Date, Analysis, Discussions]. Vol. 108. No. 2: 29–37. (In Russ.)

Franzosi R. (2004) From Words to Numbers: Narrative, Data, and Social Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gulin K.A., Dement'yeva I.N. (2008) Main Tendencies of Protest Moods in the Vologda Region. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 11: 64–71. (In Russ.)

Gurr T. (1970) Why Men Rebel? Princeton, Princeton University Press.

Hagemann H., Kufenko V. (2016) Economic, Structural and Socio-psychological Determinants of Protests in Russia during 2011–2012. Economics of Transition. Vol. 24. No. 1: 3–30.

Hutter S. (2014) Protest Event-Analysis and Its Offsprings. In: Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research. Ed. D. della Porta. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2014: 335–367.

Inglehart R., Welzel C. (2005) Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. Cambridge University Press.

Kleman K. (2013) Urban Movements of Russia in 2009–2012: on the Way to Political. Moscow: Nov. lit. obozrenie. (In Russ.)

Kleman K., Miryasova O., Demidov A. (2010) From the Philistines to the Activists: the Emerging Social Movements in Modern Russia. Moscow: Tri Kvadrata. (In Russ.)

Lankina T. (2015) The Dynamics of Regional and National Contentious Politics in Russia: Evidence from a New Dataset. Problems of Post-communism. Vol. 62. No. 1: 26–44.

Lobanova O.Yu., Semenov A.V. (2013) How do People and Organizations Demand Changes: a Study of the Repertoire of Protest in Tyumen. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya [Monitoring of the Public Opinion]. Vol. 118. No. 6: 30–38. (In Russ.)

McAdam D., Tarrow S., Tilly C. (2001) Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge University Press.

Mass Politics: Institutional Foundations. (2016) Ed. by S. Patrushev. Moscow: Pol. entsiklopediya. (In Russ.)

Robertson G. (2011) The Politics of Protest in Hybrid Regimes: Managing Dissent in Post-communist Russia. Cambridge University Press.

Robertson G. (2013) Protesting Putinism: the Election Protests of 2011–2012 in Broader Perspective. Problems of Post-communism. Vol. 60. No. 2: 11–23.

Tarrow S. (2011) Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics. Cambridge University Press.

Vatoropin S.A., Ruchkin A.V. (2017) Protest Potential of the Population of the Sverdlovsk Region. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 2: 74–83. (In Russ.)

Yanitskiy O.N. (2013) Social Movements: Theory, Practice, Perspective. Moscow: Novyy khronograf. (In Russ.)

Content No 11, 2018