https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6753-8329
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Abstract
Universities have long been seen as hotbeds of student activism. Yet institutions of higher education differ in their capacity to serve as mobilising structures. This study argues that history of activism, quality of education and local political climate influence a university’s potential to foster student protest engagement. Using a case study approach, the essay traces how a configuration of structural and cultural factors at three universities in western Siberia shaped Russian students’ involvement in the 2017 anti-corruption protests. At the same time, it demonstrates how universities in contemporary Russia are used as an instrument of authoritarian control to suppress anti-regime mobilisation.
Acknowledgements
This essay was written prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the concluding section does not reflect on fundamental changes in Russian society and in particular the educational system since February 2022. I thank Félix Krawatzek for organising an international conference on youth and politics, held at the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) in Berlin, and for guest-editing this special issue. I am also thankful to conference participants and the anonymous reviewers appointed by Europe-Asia Studies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 ‘Don't Call Him Dimon’, YouTube, 4 March 2021, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgd-E1XnNBI, accessed 20 April 2022.
2 ‘26 marta v tsifrakh i sloganakh’, New Times, 27 March 2017, available at: https://newtimes.ru/articles/detail/115992, accessed 1 May 2020.
3 For an overview, see Luescher-Mamashela (Citation2015).
4 The essay focuses on the first round of anti-corruption protests held on 26 March 2017. Another wave of anti-corruption protests took place on 12 June 2017.
5 ‘V Kemerove dvoe neizvetsnykh zakidali yaitsami Alekseya Naval’nogo’, Vse42.ru, 18 March 2017, available at: https://vse42.ru/feed/show/id/27278813, accessed 18 December 2017.
6 See also ‘Aleksei Naval’nyi otkryl shtab v Kemerove’, Vse42.ru, 18 March 2017, available at: https://vse42.ru/feed/show/id/27278822, accessed 18 December 2017.
7 ‘Kemerovo: Otkrytie shtaba’, Naval’nyi 2018, 23 March 2017, available at: https://2018.navalny.com/post/21/, accessed 18 December 2017.
8 ‘On im ne Dimon: V Sibiri proshli mitingi v podderzhku Naval’nogo’, 1-Line Info, 26 March 2017, available at: http://1line.info/obshchestvo/item/65348-mitingi-navalnii, accessed 29 March 2017.
9 OMON is the Russian acronym for Otryad militsii osobogo naznacheniya, a special purpose police unit.
10 The term Dulles’ Plan is related to a conspiracy theory, claiming that the Central Intelligence Agency pursued a plan to undermine the Soviet Union by corrupting Soviet people and eroding Soviet values. This conspiracy theory became popular in post-Soviet Russia. For details, see Golunov and Smirnova (Citation2016).
11 ‘Miting protiv korruptsii v Kemerove: ostalis’ pri svoikh’, RIA Federal Press, 26 March 2017, available at: https://fedpress.ru/news/42/society/1762451, accessed 28 March 2017.
12 For details, see ‘Kazhdyi den’ Navalnyi’, OVD-Info, 23 March 2018, available at: https://ovdinfo.org/, accessed 1 May 2020.
13 ‘Putin rasporyadilsya pristupit’ k sokrashcheniyu chisla vuzov’, MR-7.ru, 11 July 2012, available at: https://mr-7.ru/articles/56739/, accessed 20 April 2020.
14 Federal’nyi zakon ‘Ob obrazovanii v Rossiiskoi Federatsii’ ot 29.12.2012, № 273-F3, adopted 21 December 2012, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/36698, accessed 17 January 2021.
15 The Russian Federation is currently divided into eight federal administrative districts (federal’nye okruga): (1) Centre, (2) Far East, (3) North Caucasus, (4) Northwest, (5) Volga (Privolzhskii), (6) Siberia, (7) South and (8) Ural. The federal administrative districts are further sub-divided into provinces (oblasti), republics (based upon a core ethnic group) or micro-regions (krai).
16 In 2018, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation was split into the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. This essay uses the name of the newly formed government agencies throughout the text.
17 Ukaz Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii ‘O realizatsii pilotnogo proekta po sozdaniyu natsional’nykh issledovatel’skikh universitetov’, № 1448, 7 October 2008, available at: http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&firstDoc=1&lastDoc=1&nd=102124635, accessed 17 January 2021.
18 For details, see Natsional’nyi fond podgotovki kadrov, available at: http://flagshipuniversity.ntf.ru/project, accessed 20 June 2020.
19 The selected universities are located in regions with a similar size of university student population: 52,100 students in Altai Krai, 52,600 students in Kemerovo Oblast’ and 59,800 students in Tomsk Oblast’ (Rosstat Citation2017a).
20 For the history of Altai State University see ‘1973. Nachalo puti’, available at: https://www.asu.ru/univer_about/new_history/1973/, accessed 1 June 2020.
21 ‘Eshche 15 vuzov stali natsional’nymi isseldovatel’skimi universitetami’, RIA, 27 April 2010, available at: https://ria.ru/20100427/227222236.html, accessed 19 May 2020.
22 For details, see ‘Studencheskaya administratsiya’, Altai State University, available at: https://www.asu.ru/university_life/students/student/sa/, accessed 1 April 2021.
23 ‘V AltGU proidet pravovaya shkola dlya uchashchikhsya so vsego kraya’, Altai molodoi, 22 November 2018, available at: http://altaimolodoi.ru/kiberdruzhina22-v-altgu-projdet-pravovaya-shkola-dlya-uchashhixsya-so-vsego-kraya/, accessed 1 April 2021.
24 For an overview, see Online and On All Fronts: Russia’s Assault on Freedom of Expression, Human Rights Watch, 18 July 2017, available at: https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/07/18/online-and-all-fronts/russias-assault-freedom-expression#, accessed 1 April 2020.
25 For details, see ‘Studencheskie organizatsii’, Kemerevo State University, https://kemsu.ru/life/student-organizations, accessed 1 April 2021.
26 The newspaper’s online archive is available at: http://history.tsu.ru/node/3266, accessed 21 June 2021.
27 The online archive of Za nauku! is available at: http://zn.asu.ru/archive.shtml, accessed 21 June 2021.
28 Vestniki are published as open access journals, and all the articles are available for download on the universities’ web sites. For the purpose of this study, I analysed articles published in 2016, a year prior to the 2017 protests.
29 The online archive of Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filosofiya. Sotsiologiya. Politologiya is available at: http://journals.tsu.ru/philosophy/&journal_page=archive, accessed 21 June 2021.
30 The journal’s online archive is available at: http://journal.asu.ru/smw/issue/archive, accessed 21 June 2021.
31 The journal’s online archive is available at: https://vestnik-pses.kemsu.ru/ru/nauka/#archieve, accessed 21 June 2021.
32 Since 2015, Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta has featured research in archaeology, history, linguistics and psychology, while Izvestiya Altaiskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta publishes research in archaeology, history, maths and physics.
33 Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta publishes research in the following disciplines: archaeology, history, law, philosophy, pedagogy, philology, political science and sociology.
34 ‘Rukovoditel’ “tupogo dotsenta” AltGU prokommentiroval slaidy o “vore Naval’nom”’, Svobodnye novosti. FreeNews-Volga, 26 May 2017, available at: https://fn-volga.ru/news/view/id/66485, accessed 28 May 2017.
35 The slides were photographed by a student and later posted on the Twitter account of Artem Kosaretskii, coordinator of Naval’nyi’s election campaign office in Barnaul, available at: https://twitter.com/kosaretskii/status/867621518913806337, accessed 12 June 2017.
36 OVD-Info, a Russian human rights monitoring group, reported on different forms of repression against Naval'nyi’s supporters in 2017. Schools and universities were cited as the most common workplaces subject to government pressure (davlenie na rabote). For details, see ‘Kazhdyi den’ Navalnyi’, OVD-Info, 23 March 2018, available at: https://ovdinfo.org/, accessed 1 May 2020.
37 The Russian laws do not provide a clear-cut definition of extremism. Meanwhile, the coercive apparatus treats criticism of government officials and public questioning of Russia’s territorial integrity as extremist activities. On this point, see Eckel (Citation2021).
38 ‘V AltGU proveli pervyi seminar dlya vuzov regiona po voprosam profilaktiki ekstremizma v molodezhnoi srede’, Altai State University, 21 November 2016, available at: https://www.asu.ru/news/22235/, accessed 1 April 2021.
39 ‘V Serove uchenyi iz Kemerovo nazval uchastnikov mitingov Naval’nogo samoubiitsami’, Znak, 20 September 2017, available at: https://www.znak.com/2017-09-20/v_serove_uchenyy_iz_kemerovo_nazval_uchastnikov_mitingov_navalnogo_samoubiycami, accessed 21 December 2017.
40 ‘Kompleksnyi plan protivodeistviya ideologii ekstremizma i terrorisma Natsional’nogo issledovatel’skogo Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta na 2017 god’, Tomsk State University, available at: http://www.tsu.ru/upload/medialibrary/c36/plan_protiv_ter.pdf, accessed 12 May 2020.
41 ‘Pochemu Vy ne khotite golosovat’ za Putina?’, O-Gorod, 1 March 2018, available at: http://o-gorod.net/news/353735/, accessed 13 March 2020.
42 ‘Progulka posle mitinga 26 marta 2017 Kemerovo’, Nasha zhizn’, 26 March 2017, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQXpdLiqu_8, accessed 21 December 2017.
43 ‘Kemerovo: studentam ugrozhayut za uchastie v mitinge’, Sibir’.Realii, 4 November 2017, available at: https://www.sibreal.org/a/28835310.html, accessed 20 December 2017.
44 ‘Studentam prodolzhayut ugrozhat otchisleniem za uchastie v aktsiyakh 26 marta. Eshche tri istorii’, Meduza, 13 April 2017, available at: https://meduza.io/feature/2017/04/13/studentam-prodolzhayut-ugrozhat-otchisleniem-za-uchastie-v-aktsiyah-26-marta-esche-tri-istorii, accessed 27 June 2020.
45 ‘Tomskie aktivisty potrebovali prekratit’ zapugivat’ studentov tsentrom E’, Tayga.info, 4 April 2017, available at: https://tayga.info/133507, accessed 13 May 2017.
46 ‘Tomskaya politsiya doprosila 20 uchashchikhsya posle antikorruptsionnogo mitinga’, Tayga.info, 30 March 2017, available at: https://tayga.info/133422, accessed 13 May 2017.
47 See, for example, ‘“Prenebrezhenie poryadkom povedeniya”: gde v Rossii otchislyali iz vuza za mitingi’, Novyi Kaliningrad, 12 July 2017, available at: https://www.newkaliningrad.ru/news/politics/14201607-prenebrezhenie-poryadkom-povedeniya-pravda-li-chto-v-rossii-otchislyayut-za-uchastie-v-mitingakh.html, accessed 16 September 2021; ‘Repressive Measures against Anti-Corruption Action, March 26th, 2017’, OVD-Info, 24 April 2017, available at: https://ovdinfo.org/articles/2017/04/24/repressive-measures-against-anti-corruption-action-march-26th-2017#pressure, accessed 13 May 2017.
48 ‘Novokuznetsk: aktivistku otchislili iz tretego uchebnogo zavedeniya’, Sibir’.Realii, 4 September 2018, available at: https://www.sibreal.org/a/29469556.html, accessed 28 June 2020.
49 On this point, see ‘Chita: koordinatora shtaba Navalnogo otchislili iz vuza vo vremya “chistki”’, Sibir’. Realii, 9 November 2017, available at: https://www.sibreal.org/a/28844149.html, accessed 28 June 2020.
50 ‘Progulka posle mitinga 26 marta 2017 Kemerovo’, Nasha zhizn’, 26 March 2017.
51 Times Higher Education World University Ratings 2016–2017, available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/locations/RU/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats, accessed 8 June 2020.
52 On the methodology, see: https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-world-university-rankings/methodology, accessed 8 June 2020.
53 ‘Universitet v reitingakh’, Altai State University, available at: https://www.asu.ru/univer_about/oporny/asu_rankings/, accessed 8 June 2020.
54 ‘Reitingovoe agenstvo RAEX (Ekspert PA) podgotovilo shestoi ezhegodnyi reiting vuzov Rossii’, RAEX, 7 June 2017, available at: https://raex-a.ru/releases/2017/Jun07, accessed 8 June 2020.
55 ‘Monitoring trudoustroistva vypusknikov, 2015–2016’, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, available at: http://vo.graduate.edu.ru/#/?year=2015&year_monitoring=2016, accessed 23 May 2019.
56 The exchange rate at the end of the year (29 December 2016) was R63.25 for €1. The data are retrieved from the European Central Bank, available at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/eurofxref-graph-rub.en.html, accessed 7 June 2020.
57 ‘Imperatorskii Tomskii universitet: khronika studencheskikh buntov’, Alma mater, 3 April 2006, available at: http://almamater.tsu.ru/show_story.phtml?nom=2400&s=2207, accessed 7 June 2020.
58 Siberia housed an extensive network of labour camps (ispravitel’no-trudovye lagerya) under Joseph Stalin. Specifically, there used to be labour camps in the cities of Barnaul, Kemerovo and Tomsk. For details, see Smirnov (Citation1998).
59 For an overview of the museum’s projects, see https://nkvd.tomsk.ru/projects, accessed 7 June 2020.
60 A full list of local organisations was available at: https://www.memo.ru/ru-ru/memorial/departments/#list, accessed 14 June 2020. In December 2021, Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the closure of Memorial (Rainsford Citation2021).
61 On the department’s history, see Zelenin et al. (Citation2013).
62 ‘V Altaiskom krae nachnut podgotovku desyatogo toma “Knigi pamyati”, posvyashchennogo zemlyakam, propavshim bez vesti na frontakh Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny’, Rossiiskoe voenno-istoricheskoe obshchestvo, 7 February 2017, available at https://rvio.histrf.ru/soobshestvo/post-5225, accessed 9 June 2020.
63 ‘“Davaite zhit’ druzhno”: barnaul’skie studenty proveli piket protiv “estonskogo fashizma”’, Amitel, 15 May 2017, available at: https://www.amic.ru/news/69509/, accessed 1 June 2020.
64 ‘Kraeved-entuziast vyshel na piket protiv unichtozheniya skvera radi novogo korpusa Altaiskogo universiteta’, Barnaul News, 22 January 2020, available at: http://barnaul-news.net/other/2020/01/22/165965.html, accessed 1 June 2020.
65 ‘Istoriya koordinatora: avtor “Vyazanogo Tvitera” Anton Voloshyn’, Navalny-2018, 4 August 2017, available at: https://2018.navalny.com/post/140/, accessed 1 June 2020.
66 ‘Tomskii deputat Vladimir Kazakov isklyuchen iz “Edinoi Rossii” za oskorbitelnye kalendariki o mere goroda’, Komsomol’skaya pravda, 7April 2011, available at: https://www.stav.kp.ru/online/news/866758/, accessed 27 June 2020.
67 ‘Sparevedlivaya Rossiya i LDPR vydvinyli v mery Tomska prepodavatelei TGU’, Tayga.info, 29 August 2013, available at: https://tayga.info/113631, accessed 27 June 2020.
68 See, for example, ‘Vizit gubernatora v universitet’, Za nauku!, 15 December 2016, available at: http://zn.asu.ru/issue.shtml?i_n_seq=1461, accessed 27 June 2020.
69 For details, see ‘Natsional’nyi reiting merov (itogi 2016 goda)’, Tsentr informatsionnykh tekhnologii ‘Reiting’, December 2016, available at: http://russia-rating.ru/info/11077.html, accessed 8 February 2019.
70 For details, visit the websites: https://kemgorsovet.ru/informacziya-o-sovete/obshhie-svedeniya/ and https://barnaul.org/vlast/duma/deputat/, accessed 27 June 2020. On Tomsk city council, see ‘Duma Tomska shestogo sozyva v tsifrakh i faktakh’, RIA Tomsk, 28 September 2015, available at: https://www.riatomsk.ru/article/20150925/duma-tomska-shestogo-soziva-v-cifrah-i-faktah/, accessed 16 April 2020.
71 ‘“Pozor” i “trevozhnyi zvonok”: oppozitsiya ob itogakh vyborov v Tomske’, RIA Tomsk, 14 September 2015, available at: https://www.riatomsk.ru/article/20150914/pozor-i-trevozhnij-zvonok-oppoziciya-ob-itogah-viborov-v-tomske/, accessed 16 April 2020.
72 ‘Vybory v Dumu-2016: Rezul’taty po regionam’, RIA, September 2016, available at: https://ria.ru/20160918/1476912507.html#/summary, accessed 16 April 2020.
73 VKontakte is currently Russia’s largest social networking platform. According to a nationally representative survey conducted in December 2016, 40% of Russians in general and 77% of 18–24-year-olds in particular regularly used VKontakte for socialising (Levada Centre Citation2017). I use the number of VKontakte users affiliated with a local branch of MGER as a proxy of the strength of a pro-regime youth organisation in a city. To control for the size of the youth population, I calculate the rate of MGER-affiliated VKontakte users per 1,000 young people by dividing the raw number of MGER-affiliated VKontakte users by the number of 18–24-year-olds in a city and multiplying the result by 1,000. The size of the youth population in the cities ranged from 47,839 people in Kemerovo to 64,807 in Tomsk, with 50,583 people in Barnaul. The analysis focuses on 18–24-year-olds because members of this age group are most likely to attend an institution of higher education.
74 Molodaya Gvardiya-Altaiskii Krai, available at: https://vk.com/mgaltai, accessed 20 June 2020; Molodaya Gvardiya Kuzbassa, available at: https://vk.com/mger142, accessed 20 June 2020; Molodaya Gvardiya-Tomsk Oblast’, available at: https://vk.com/mger_tomsk, accessed 20 June 2020.
75 Molodaya Gvardiya-Tomsk, available at: https://vk.com/mgertomsk, accessed 20 June 2020.
76 Molodaya Gvardiya-Barnaul, available at: https://vk.com/mger_barnaul, accessed 20 June 2020.
77 On state control over Russian universities in the wake of the 2017 protests, see ‘Obrazovatel’nyi tsenz: Issledovanie o tom, kto uchit rossiiskuyu molodezh’, Komanda ‘Proekta’, 15 April 2021, available at: https://www.proekt.media/research/rukovodstvo-vuzov-edinorossy, accessed 21 June 2021.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Olena Nikolayenko
Olena Nikolayenko, Professor of Political Science, Fordham University, 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458, USA. Email: [email protected]