Локальные этнические сообщества и политика: восприятие власти у сойотов

Abstract

The issues of electoral behavior and the interaction of the electorate and power among the indigenous small people of the soyots, who live in one of the most remote regions of Russia – the Okinsky rayon of Buryatia, are covered. According to the results of a statistical analysis and sociological surveys conducted by the authors in 2021 and 2022 (n = 279) the characteristic features of the political culture of the soyots were revealed. With the framework of theory of motivation to vote of A. Blais and J.-F. Daoust, soyots tend to participate in elections mainly because of a sense of obligation and fear of being seen as asocial by their society. Soyots are characterized by a higher level of support for pro-government candidates and the ruling party, which is based on a sense of non-participation in the federal agenda due to their geographical remoteness, which implies their conformist behavior. In the Okinsky district, there is a high activity of local authorities and a variety of non-trivial political practices, which are described in the article. A pronounced ethnic feature is the high level of political influence among religious actors (buddhist lamas and shamans), that is low researched yet, as well as the presence of public institutions that defend the issues of legislative initiatives at the federal level, which in perception are equated with government.