Features of the public perception of the extremism and terrorism threats (on the example of the Republic of Bashkortostan)

Abstract

Abstact. The article is based on the data of the sociological survey conducted in the Republic of Bashkortostan in August-October 2021. The study focused on the public perception of the influence of the ideology of extremism on the situation in the region and of the activities of the authorities to counter terrorism. 1030 respondents representing all 63 municipalities of the region and its social-demographic structure were interviewed with the formalized guide. The relevance of the study is determined by the potential of the destructive impact of the extremism and terrorism threats on the public consciousness - from anxiety and fear to apathy and aggression, which affects the social-political situation, estimates of the authorities and the state development trends. In recent decades, extremism and terrorism as means of influencing the authorities and society have attracted increasingly more participants and supporters, have globalized their goals, modified strategies and adapted to the measures of state-legal and social counteraction. Such quantitative and qualitative changes of extremism and terrorism explain the need for their more active study and a tough, irreconcilable, anticipatory reaction to them from both the state and society, which requires various means, including sociological, to monitor the dynamics of these phenomena, measure their destructive potential and the efficiency of measures to counter and prevent them at all levels of the social organization, including regional and local. Based on the statistical data for 2018-2020, the article considers the state and trends of the extremism and terrorism threats in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Bashkortostan, and based on the sociological data of 2021, the author identifies the peculiarities of the public perception of the extremism and terrorism threats in the region. The article also presents estimates of the interethnic and interreligious relations for problems and contradictions in this sphere often become causes and a favorable environment for extremist ideologies and terrorist practices; and the respondents assessments of their level of security and their attitudes to measures to counter the threats of extremism and terrorism.