Civil Participation Research Articles

The influence of religious attachment on intended political engagement among lower-secondary students

Religious attachment has been identified as an important correlate of civic participation, civic engagement, and civil participation among adults. This study investigates two aspects of relationships between religiosity and intended political engagement among lower secondary school students in 2009 and 2016. One aspect is the extent to which religious attachment is associated with an endorsement of the influence of religion in society. This can be viewed as the converse of secularity which asks for the separation of social and political institutions from religion. A second aspect investigated is the extent to which religious attachment is associated with expected adult electoral participation and expected adult active political participation after controlling for the effects of other characteristics. While the results from this study show no strong or consistent relationships between religious background and expected political participation among lower-secondary students, findings suggest that young people’s endorsement of religious influence in society depends strongly on their religious background and in turn shows associations with expected active political participation.

Interaction of the population with authorities using digital technologies: sociological analysis

In the modern world new formats of civil participation for the population are emerging, associated with the use of innovative technologies. The problem of introducing and developing digital services into the public administration system at all levels of government is urgent. Experts argue that digitalization will ensure an increase in the level of efficiency in the provision of public services to the population. The problematic field of research is the level of involvement of the population in interaction with government structures in the digital space. Mastering the information environment requires certain competencies that are not developed immediately. The speed of mastering such competencies depends on many factors, including the understanding of the need for their constant use. The goal of the research is to determine the attitude of the regional population towards digital technologies used for interaction between citizens and government agencies.Today, comprehensive sociological research on this topic is required. When working on a scientific article, methods of sociocultural analysis, document analysis, and empirical collection of primary information in the form of a survey were used. The main conclusion is that for the effective development of digital interaction between the population and the authorities, it is necessary not only to introduce, but also to increase the level of trust of citizens in the digital resources of the state.

VIRTUAL NETWORK ENVIRONMENT AS A SPACE FOR FORMING DIALOGUE BETWEEN AUTHORITY AND SOCIETY

The modern virtual network environment opens up new opportunities for involving the public in government processes and ensuring greater influence of citizens on decision-making; The online environment increases the level of openness and transparency, promotes interaction between government and the public, thereby strengthening the democratic principles of society. In the era of global digitalization, it is thanks to the virtual network environment that it is possible to form a high-quality and effective government- public dialogue, which is a key aspect of civil participation in government. The article examines the virtual network environment as a platform for the formation of high-quality and effective dialogue between the government and society in order to solve pressing problems and support democratic values. In particular, attention is focused on: key positions of the virtual network environment and its characteristics; principles of government-public dialogue; factors influencing the success and effectiveness of government-public dialogue through a virtual network environment; challenges and opportunities that arise when implementing a virtual network environment as a platform for government-public dialogue.

Институт публичных манифестаций как форма делиберативной демократии

The article discusses the institution of public manifestations in the context of the development of forms of deliberative democracy. Public demonstrations are considered not only as a form of protest civic activity, but also as a way to involve citizens in the process of changing the constitution. There is a lack of development of the potential of rallies and peaceful assemblies for the purpose of increasing civil participation in the initiation and discussion of constitutional projects. It is proposed to impose on the authorities the obligation to maintain open statistics of public demonstrations related to civil constitutional initiatives, as well as the introduction of a simplified procedure for holding meetings aimed at discussing constitutional changes.

Trajectories of digital flourishing in adolescence: The predictive roles of developmental changes and digital divide factors.

Digital flourishing refers to the positive perceptions of digital communication use in five dimensions: connectedness, positive social comparison, authentic self-presentation, civil participation, and self-control. This three-wave panel study among 1081 Slovenian adolescents (Mage = 15.34 years, 53.8% boys, 80.7% ethnic majority) explored the trajectories of their digital flourishing dimensions over 1 year (2021-2022). Latent class growth analysis identified two classes. Adolescents in the first class reported high levels of digital flourishing, which remained stable over time, whereas those in the second class reported low levels of digital flourishing with decreased self-control over time. Autonomy-supportive restrictive, autonomy-supportive active, and controlling active parental mediation styles, together with high parental digital skills, predicted adolescents' belongingness to the (more digitally flourishing) first class.

Деятельность общественных советов при государственных структурах России: состояние и перспективы развития

The article provides an assessment of the activities of public (expert, advisory) councils under government structures of modern Russia; the conclusions are based on an analysis of the regulatory legal framework and data from empirical sociological research. The main factors contributing to the improvement of the activities of councils as bodies of civil participation are identified, and practical proposals are made.

Participation of Civil Society Organizations in the Public Policy of National Memory in Ukraine

The article focuses on studying civil society organisations' participation in the decision-making and implementation by public authorities. The aim of the article is to analyse the involvement of civil society in Ukraine (using civil society organisations as an example) in public policy regarding national memory in Ukraine. The article employs a combination of descriptive methods with analysis and synthesis methods, inductive and deductive methods, and the dialectical method contributes to the comprehensive study of the activities of civil society organisations. Comparative and structural-functional analysis methods were used to study the activities and functioning of civil society organisations. As a result of the research, the main vectors of public policy regarding national memory in Ukraine were identified; the regulatory framework of Ukraine regulating the activities of civil society organisations and their participation in political processes was analysed; an overview of the instruments of civil participation in the public policy regarding national memory was conducted; using the example of the “Reanimation Package of Reforms” Coalition, the activities of civil society organisations in the field of national memory through partnerships and networking were characterised. It was found that the state implements a policy to promote the development of civil society in Ukraine aimed at supporting civic initiatives. To implement this, Ukraine has formed a regulatory framework constantly updated by socio-political challenges and needs. The country implements the National Strategy for the Development of Civil Society, adopts international norms and standards, and fulfils international obligations.

“Never enough, never perfect”: Participatory activist practice in the museum

Abstract Recent outbursts of activist interventions in museums have put a spotlight on the difficult relationship of cultural spaces with activism as they aspire to be forums, sites for civil, social, and cultural participation (Black, 2005; Byrne, 2018; Janes & Sandell, 2019; Pegno, 2021). On the one hand, museums want to be engaged and relevant, taking part in social dialogue as “agents of change” (Mouffe, 2016; Sandell, 2003). On the other, they often have complex relationships with the activists themselves, especially in the framework of participatory practices (Coffee, 2008; Lorente, 2015). This article focuses on the process of co-creation of an exhibition about the social history of AIDS at the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (the Mucem) in Marseille, France, and explores how this participatory project involving activists can help us better understand the challenges of museum activism. The core question this article addresses is: how did activists experience the co-creation participatory process, and what can the museum learn from it to inform their practice of museum activism?

ПРЕДПОСЫЛКИ РЕАЛИЗАЦИИ ПОТЕНЦИАЛА СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ АКТИВНОСТИ СЕЛЬСКИХ ЖИТЕЛЕЙ В СОВРЕМЕННЫХ ФОРМАХ ГРАЖДАНСКОГО УЧАСТИЯ

The article examines the features of social activity of various groups of the rural population as well as the possibilities of its expansion. The study substantiates the value and semantic conditionality of civil participation, reveals the degree of readiness to unite with other people to achieve significant goals, and identifies the motives of their participation in various types of public activities. A separate area of the research was devoted to analysing perceptions of various groups of villagers about the state and prospects of interaction with local authorities, as well as their views on the incentives for the development of civic activity in the localities. The results of an applied sociological study conducted by the Institute of Agrarian Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2023 in rural areas of the Saratov region (N = 1210) served as the information basis for the current research. The results of the study indicate the differentiation of the potential for expanding social activity of different social groups of the rural population. The greatest activity is demonstrated by workers in budgetary sectors (teachers, doctors/paramedics, settlement administration workers); the potential of unemployed women involved in housework and raising children remains unrealized. The lowest rates are observed for agricultural workers, pensioners and rural residents who are not engaged in paid employment. The authors put forward proposals on further expansion of practices and mechanisms of interaction between local self-government bodies and the local community, stimulation of public private partnerships and active involvement of local residents in solving problems of rural livelihood.

The phenomenon of digital political participation: forms, models and essential aspects

This article is devoted to the study of the conceptual features of the phenomenon of digital political participation, as well as its key forms and models of implementation. According to the author, in the last two decades there has been a transformation of traditional forms and models of political participation under the influence of digital information and communication technologies. In particular, social networks and messengers are used as tools for organizing, mobilizing, implementing various forms of political participation and civil-political activism. At the same time, under the influence of the development of digital information and communication technologies, completely new forms and models of civil and political participation are emerging. In this regard, it is legitimate to talk about the existence today of the phenomenon of online political participation (OPP), or digital network participation (DNP). One of the key questions remains the question of the relationship between "traditional" and digital forms of political participation. Based on the results of the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that "traditional" and digital political participation are complementary to each other, since digital communication technologies allow today to involve a large number of potentially politically active citizens, disseminate political information and thereby create favorable conditions for the implementation of direct political action.

Digital Flourishing in the U.S.: Validation of the Digital Flourishing Scale (DFS) and Demographic Exploration

ABSTRACT An increasing number of research studies have focused on exploring both the negative and positive effects of computer-mediated communication on individuals’ mental health and well-being. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive scale that measures an individual’s online well-being. The 25-item Digital Flourishing Scale (DFS) was introduced to measure the 25-item Digital Flourishing Scale (DFS) to measure individuals’ positive perceptions of experiences and behaviors in mediated social interactions. The current pre-registered study aimed to establish the convergent, discriminant, and concurrent criterion validity of the DFS and its five subscales (connectedness, authentic self-presentation, civil participation, positive social comparison, self-control). Additionally, the study aimed to explore digital flourishing among different demographic groups. A Qualtrics sample of N = 486, representative of the American population in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, and income, was obtained in December 2021. Convergent validity was established for four out of the five subscales. Discriminant validity for the overall DFS score has been confirmed. The DFS was found to have a positive correlation with general well-being and a negative correlation with mental health problems (for three of the subscales after controlling for age). Furthermore, the study suggests a digital divide in terms of digital flourishing in relation to education and income. Several interesting findings related to demographics, digital flourishing, and mental health are discussed.

Revitalization of Civil Participation of the Population in the Activities of Local Self-Government Bodies

Civil participation of the population in Kazakhstan is considered one of the most important factors in the development of local government system, while the actual level of participation remains at a low level. The forms of manifestation of civil and social participation of the population in the realization of citizens’ rights to governance are limited, and social passivity is a characteristic feature for residents of local regions. The relevance of the research work is determined by the need to activate the civil participation of the population in the activities of Local Self-Government Bodies in Turkestan as a typical representative of a small urban district. The primary purpose of the research work is to find and substantiate ways to activate the civil participation of the population in the activities of Local Self-Government Bodies in Turkestan. Research methods such as Descriptive analytics (Nearest Neighbor Analysis), Diagnostic analytics (Pearson’s R - Spearman Correlation) and Predictive analytics (Neural Networks - Multilayer Perceptron) were used. Statistical and Analytical research was carried out using SPSS and R statistics software. A sociological survey was conducted among residents of Turkestan, and other materials were collected from such sources as the results of structural appeals of citizens to the administration of Turkestan and the results of the activities of the administration of Turkestan in the field of working with citizens’ appeals. As a result, the main causes of problems of civil activity of the population in Turkestan were identified and the “Solution Tree” method was used to solve the main problems in this region.

Cooperatives as a way of participation in political decision-making processes: An Examination over the Turkish Forestry Cooperatives in constitutional terms

In this article, cooperatives were examined on their distinctive structure, questioning whether they can be seen as a way of civil participation on political decision-making, by presenting some recent cases from Turkish Forestry Cooperatives. Firstly, the place of the civil society in participatory democracies and the importance of economic and social conditions in this perspective and consequently the role of the cooperatives in civil society were explained briefly. Afterwards, the cooperative’s practical impact on political decision-making was analysed over the instance of OR-KOOP including core information on cooperatives and forest villagers in Turkey —representing a community lower economic facilities— in the search of fundamental necessities for an expected participation in political decision-making processes. Finally, constitutional significance of the forests and the cooperatives were revealed with regard to the crossing concepts of participatory democracy, sustainable development and human rights.
 Received: 29 July 2022 Accepted: 27 April 2023

The role of regional environmental criminology in the digital age

Aim: To highlight the increasing importance of environmental criminology in addressing environmental safety challenges in the digital age.Discussion. In the digital age, it is important to shape environmental consciousness and culture through the system of countering environmental crime. To achieve this goal, the foundations of environmental safety should be promoted by attracting new technologies from the digital world. Content analysis of electronic mass media showed that in some regions of the Russian Federation there are environmental crowdsourcing projects, network communities and virtual civil platforms as a corollary of offline (traditional) civil participation. The republics of the North Caucasus need to take into account the positive experience of key regions of Russia, for example, Moscow, in creating digital databases for environmental supervision. Crimes in the field of ecology should be singled out in an independent section of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as a priority area of criminal law policy. The authors propose the improvement of the system of execution of punishments for committing crimes in the field of environmental protection by creating specialised correctional centres for the implementation of punishment against persons who have committed environmental crimes directed at their resocialization.Conclusion. Strengthening state control over the use of the digital space in the regions of the Russian Federation will be facilitated by the formation of environmental justice as an element of improving the general system of combating crime. The effectiveness of such an environmental protection countermeasure system also depends on the quality of research in the field of protecting the natural world, which increases the importance of environmental criminology in the digital age

Collective and artificial intelligence

Introduction. Modern technologies make it possible to embody the concept of collective intelligence, which previously existed rather metaphorically. The purpose of this work is to analyze the active use of collective and artificial intelligence in the modern world, and the possibilities of their interaction.Materials and Methods. The paper analyzes the main trends that exist today in the development of collective and artificial intelligence, presents a phenomenological analysis of individual examples. Based on the historical and dialectical methods, the main options for the manifestation of collective intelligence through technology, and the role of artificial intelligence in interacting with collective intelligence are identified.Results. In a broad sense, collective intelligence means all the results of intellectual work accumulated by humanity, in a narrow sense, it means the ability of many people to collaborate intellectually through digital technologies, allowing joint efforts to accumulate databases, collect information about problems, solve scientific and social issues (civil science, crowdsourcing, civil participation, e-government, etc.). The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology today relies on the results of collective intellectual activity: it learns from human-made intellectual products, many systems improve through direct interaction with people, or use data from sensors or social networks, based on which AI can create a picture of natural disasters or predict crime.Discussion and Conclusions. In one case, collective intellectual effort serves as data for decision-making AI systems, in another, citizens play an active role, and technological solutions can help optimize decision making. These two directions, which could be called passive and active collective intelligence, demonstrate the development potential of the modern infosphere, leaving open the question of whether collective intelligence will serve as an expression of the will of mankind or a resource for its technical management.

As redes sociais digitais como canais de transparência da informação: uma proposta de parâmetros de avaliação de uso

The growing appreciation of democratic precepts and consequent increase in civil participation in public decision-making, combined with the emergence of new digital information and communication channels, resulted in a paradigm shift that reframed administrative transparency policies, demanding greater attention to production, dissemination and use of public data and information. This study maps evaluation parameters that monitor the quality of info-communicational services mediated by digital social networks as institutional transparency channels. A documentary, descriptive, quantitative and qualitative research was conducted to integrate indicators and criteria used to evaluate info-communicational services on transparency websites and portals to the use guidelines of institutional social networks. The main scientific findings are presented in two tables. The first summarizes the informational framework used as the basis for mapping and consolidating the indicators; the second presents the indicators and their respective evaluation criteria. The five indicators identified seek to assess communicability, accessibility, usability, reliability, and transparency in social channels. Guiding and evaluating the use of digital social networks is paramount for the alignment of services provided by the Public Administration with its own objectives and strategies, with legal provisions and with societal expectations. Besides validating the use of these channels as institutional info-communicational tools, defining these parameters fills a gap in terms of administrative transparency.

Адаптационные ресурсы российской молодежи в условиях интенсивных геополитических трансформаций

The work is focused on the research of technologies for the formation of young people's scientific picture of the world and the corresponding political culture in the conditions of a high degree of societal informatization and cardinal geopolitical transformations. The article emphasizes the role of education and science in the process of spiritual and ideological formation of personality, the increasing importance of information technology and new social media. It is emphasized that one aspect of the geopolitical reality that intensifies the civil participa-tion of youth in politics is the intensification of social networking technologies that challenge the information security of Russia. Information threats as a devastating, destructive component in the space of political interac-tions manifest themselves in the distortion of information in order to psychologically influencing young people. The methodological significance of the concept of universal evolutionism and the resource potential of the lat-est information technologies and digital ecosystems in politics are argued.

Review of studies on scientific literacy promotion in foreign libraries

Science plays an important role in ensuring the society’s well-being and performs a number of functions, of which the most significant are to build new knowledge, improve education, and increase the quality of life. The new stage of science-society communications is characterized by the expansion of civil participation in planning, conducting and financing of scientific research. One of the main tasks of science communication is to increase scientific literacy (SL) of nonscientists. The documents analysis demonstrates that the developed countries pay special attention to scientific thinking and SL promotion, and all social institutions, including libraries, are engaged in appropriate activities. In recent decades, the study of the SL formation features has become a popular research topic worldwide. However, Russian library studies pay insufficient attention to the foreign experience in the field. The goal of this paper is to review and analyze English-language publications on “scientific literacy in libraries”. The author characterizes in detail such vectors of activities as development of popular science collections, participation of libraries in STEM education, and other practices of foreign libraries in teaching SL.

Politik Kewargaan: Melacak Perjuangan Kelompok Penghayat Kerohanian di Kota Malang dalam Mendapatkan Hak sebagai Warga Negara

This research aims to explain how spiritual groups in Malang City struggle to obtain their rights as citizens. This research is important to carry out as a benchmark for the obligations that the government should give in the form of rights as citizens to marginalized groups, in this case spiritual believers in Malang City, Malang City. By borrowing the theoretical framework of citizenship politics from Kristian Stokke, which divides citizenship into four dimensions, namely citizenship as legal status, citizenship as rights, citizenship as membership, and citizenship as participation. This research uses descriptive qualitative methods by collecting data through literature study, document study, interviews and observation. The results of this research show that spiritual groups in Malang City have made various efforts as a form of struggle to obtain various rights, namely membership rights, legal status as an organization or community, civil rights, social rights, political rights and participation rights. The findings of this study show that groups of religious believers in Malang City have proven to be very proactive and take initiative towards government institutions in various fields such as administration, education and the social sphere.

Politik Kewargaan: Melacak Perjuangan Kelompok Penghayat Kerohanian Sapta Darma Kota Malang dalam Mendapatkan Hak sebagai Warga Negara

This study aims to explain how the struggle of the Sapta Darma kerokhanian group in Malang City in obtaining their rights as citizens. This research is important to do as a benchmark of the obligations that should be given by the government in the form of rights as citizens to marginalized people, in this case are followers of the Sapta Darma faith in Malang City. By borrowing the framework of citizenship political theory from Kristian Stokke which divides into four dimensions of citizenship, namely citizenship as a legal status, citizenship as a right, citizenship as membership, and citizenship as participation. This research uses descriptive qualitative methods with data collection through literature studies, document studies, interviews, and observations. The results of this study show that the Sapta Darma faith group has made various efforts as a form of struggle to obtain various rights, namely membership rights, legal status as an organization or community, civil rights, social rights, political rights, and participation rights. The findings of this study show that the Sapta Darma faith group in Malang City has proven to be very proactive and initiatives towards government institutions in various fields such as administrative, educational and social spheres.