State–society relations in contemporary Russia: new forms of political and social contention

† This special issue is the result of an international conference “Российская политика снизу-вверх (Russian Politics from Below)” held at the University of Edinburgh in April 2013. The conference was supported by the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies (CRCEES), an inter-institutional Centre of Excellence funded by the AHRC and the British Council. Grant reference AH/K000063/1.

Abstract

Much existing analysis of Russian state–society relations focuses on public, active forms of contention such as the “opposition” and protest movements. There is need for a more holistic perspective which adds study of a range of overt, “co-opted”, and hidden forms of interaction to this focus on public contention. A theoretical and empirical basis for understanding state–society relations in today's Russia involves broadening the concept of “contentious politics” to include models of “consentful” as well as “dissentful” contention. A diffused model of contentious politics can situate claim-making along the axes of consentful and dissentful motivations, and compliant and contentious behaviours.

Keywords:

• Russia
• contentious politics
• protest
• opposition
• civil society

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Ammon Cheskin is Lecturer in Nationalism and Identity at Central and East European Studies, University of Glasgow. His main research interests are kin-state relations between Russia and Russian speakers, memory and memory politics in the former Soviet Union, and Ukrainian politics.

Luke March is Senior Lecturer in Soviet and post-Soviet Politics, at Politics and International Relations, University of Edinburgh. His main research interests are Russian domestic and foreign politics, nationalism, populism, radicalism and extremism in Europe and the former Soviet Union, and the politics of the Left.

Notes

† This special issue is the result of an international conference “Российская политика снизу-вверх (Russian Politics from Below)” held at the University of Edinburgh in April 2013. The conference was supported by the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies (CRCEES), an inter-institutional Centre of Excellence funded by the AHRC and the British Council. Grant reference AH/K000063/1.

1. Tilly defined environmental mechanisms as “externally generated influences on conditions affecting social life”, cognitive mechanisms as “alterations of individual and collective perception” and relational mechanisms as “connections among people, groups, and interpersonal networks” (Tilly 2001, 24).