Zaytsev Dmitry

CIVIL PARTICIPATION IN RUSSIA: CARTOGRAPHY OF PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

The article is devoted to the analysis of the “third sector” in the modern Russia and possible trajectories of its development in the mid-term. According to the authors’ conception, all the problems (or most of them) with the civil participation can be explained through the specificity of interaction of its main subjects i.e. civil activists and social organizations with different stakeholders – population (ordinary citizens), power and business. Having thoroughly reviewed the range of contradictions emerging during the interaction of various “social sectors”, the authors draw the conclusion that a lot of problems of the Russian civil society have their roots in its very structures, in their ability/inability to build relationships with other socio-political actors. The research paper is based on the material of the project Power and Society in Russia: Problems of Overcoming Mutual Alienation carried out by the group ZIRCON, January-March, 2010.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2011-60-1-98-116

CIVIL SOCIETY IN RUSSIA IN THE NEAREST FUTURE: THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERT RESEARCH STUDY

The article summarizes the conclusions of the experimental project “The short-term scenario forecast of civil society development in Russia” conducted from February till April, 2009 by the ZIRCON Research Group together with the Economic Strategy Institute. The research study carried out within the paradigm of the exploratory forecast on the basis of the expert survey method shed light on the high differentiation among the experts’ opinions on the Russian civil society state and its prospects. There were neither conforming nor even prevailing opinions on hardly any parameters characterizing the development of civil society. Evaluating such ambiguity and controversy of the “expert consciousness” as being reflective of the subject in question itself, the authors come to conclusion that today the Russian civil society is at a bifurcation point, after which its development with the same degree of probability might take several paths that are fundamentally different.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2009-55-4-143-157

“THINK TANKS” AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTRES AS SUBJECTS OF EXPERT SUPPORT OF POLITICS

The article compares in detail two types of expert organizations – “think tanks” and public policy centres. Having thoroughly analyzed the distinctive features of the two types of structures and having pointed out separate sub-types of expert organizations, N.Belyaeva and D.Zaytsev are building a “map” of subjects of intellectual support of politics that helps to orientate oneself in the sphere of “expert services”.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2008-51-4-139-151