| Abstrakt: |
This article seeks to clarify the role of the Nashi youth organization in Russian internal politics and foreign policy, and to identify its basic characteristics through a comparative perspective. To this end, firstly the European youth movements were briefly classified on a historical basis. Secondly, the predecessors of Nashi, such as Poteshnye of the late Russian Empire, Komsomol of the Soviet Union, and Idushchie Vmeste of the Russian Federation were examined. Following a discussion about mainstream theories of youth participation, this article concludes that ‘strain’ was not the reason behind the emergence of the Nashi movement. On the contrary, governmental control/support as a structural factor caused the establishment and institutionalization of the organization. Nashi, as a Government Organized Non-Governmental Organization (GONGO), played at least four important roles in Russian internal politics and foreign policy. It worked as a pro-government device to counter the ‘Orange Threat’, a compensatory factor to diminish the socio-economical results of the 2004 neoliberal reforms, a platform of nepotistic practices to guarantee the loyalty of the youth, and a dynamic foreign policy actor implementing the decisions taken by Kremlin. When Nashi attempted to extend beyond the limits drawn by the state administration, claimed its autonomy, and showed its willingness to function as both an implementer and formulator in domestic and foreign policy calculations, Kremlin gradually weakened its support to the organization until it withered away. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
