Russian Youth Forums: Sites of Managed Youth Empowerment

Kristiina Silvan

doi:10.1177/1103308821990932

Abstract

In the 2010s Russia, government-organized local, regional and national youth forums have become major sites for state-youth interaction. These typically weeklong summer camps are organized across Russia, attracting up to one million participants annually. Although the forums have diverse foci, they are all formal platforms of youth participation, aimed at young people engaging in ‘compliant’ forms of activism. Drawing from qualitative content analysis of official reports and media accounts combined with participant observation and interview data, this article analyses the forums as a case of youth policy in an authoritarian political setting. It finds that the government treats youth as a ‘problematic resource’. Moreover, while the forums’ agenda is defined by the policymakers, young people acquire and apply agency to navigate and negotiate the official agenda and re-signify it to respond to their interests. This process, it is argued, has an empowering effect regardless of the constraining authoritarian setting.

Highlights

In summer 2019, the Russian Federal Agency of Youth Affairs (Federal’noe agentstvo po delam molodezhi, abbreviated Rosmolodezh’) was planning to organize one hundred youth forums across the country
This article has presented the findings of a qualitative study of contemporary Russian youth forums, analysed as case of youth policy instrument applied by an authoritarian government
It has argued that a problem-oriented approach still dominates the Russian youth policy, which is why young people’s participation is channelled to formal settings and only ‘compliant’ forms of activism are tolerated

Summary

Introduction

In summer 2019, the Russian Federal Agency of Youth Affairs (Federal’noe agentstvo po delam molodezhi, abbreviated Rosmolodezh’) was planning to organize one hundred youth forums across the country. The forums differ in their scope and thematic focus, together they form the ‘forum campaign’, the biggest trend in contemporary Russian youth policy. 18–30-year olds participated in the forums in 2018 alone At the forums, young people are provided with a formal and governmentsponsored platform supposedly to develop their professional skills and interact with other young people from all over the country in an unofficial setting, living one week in tents and attending lectures and seminars as well as participating in leisure activities. Some people attend several camps in one summer, several years in a row

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion