Authoritarian responsiveness online: social media strategy of Russian regional governance centers

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is dedicated to authoritarian responsiveness and feedback mechanisms that autocratic regimes exploit to keep citizens loyal, using the example of Russia. The study aims to describe how the Russian government uses online feedback mechanisms in political communication. I focus on the activities of the Regional Governance Centers, i.e. project management offices designed to establish communication between authorities and citizens. This communication system represents a proactive approach where authorities initiate engagement with citizens rather than passively receiving complaints. I analyze the content of VK communities operated by these project management offices, where they report how the authorities solve citizens’ problems initially indicated by citizens on social media. The explorative text analysis shows that Regional Governance Centers mostly report on how authorities process citizens’ complaints and solve problems indicated by them. They also promote live Q&A sessions with regional and local authorities and advertise financial support that different groups of citizens can get from the government. Posts containing information about how to communicate directly with officials, warnings about bad weather conditions, information about financial assistance from the government, and self-promotion of these Regional Governance Centers are the most popular in getting user reactions.