Protest in Russia 2017-2021: Technologies and Patterns

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Abstract

The article analyzes the patterns and technologies of organizing political protest in Russia in the period 2017-2021. The author concludes that the start of the protests in March 2017 was aimed at influencing the presidential elections in March 2018, in addition, the “protests of schoolchildren” were to launch the pattern of “chain reaction” in rising of protest actions. The author states that in this new wave of protests, there is a change of “face of protest”: that is an attempt to remove one of the main problems of Russian political protest - a large number of opinion leaders, each of whom has an extremely low rating, and the absence of single ideological orientation of the protest. Protest organization technologies share patterns with the radical mass forms of social protest known as the “color revolutions” and events of the Arab Spring. Political protests of 2017-2021 again showed the operability of simple slogans, but the impossibility of a long-term alliance in the ranks of protesters. The lack of a strong ideology makes these protests swift: explosive and rapidly fading, unable to mobilize new supporters.

About the authors

Eduard E. Shults

Moscow State Linguistic University

Author for correspondence.
Email: nuap1@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9067-6228

PhD in History, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Communication Technologies

38/1 Ostozhenka str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 119034

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