Between political apathy and political passivity. The case of modern Russian society

Abstract

It is difficult to characterize the Russian society as completely active or passive due to the high voter turnout, but simultaneously, a low level of involvement in political life. The research focuses on determining the extent of activity/passivity of the Russian society in the years 2000 – 2012. Results of the analysis revealed a degree of participation of the Russian citizens in the electoral decision-making process and their involvement in political life. It was answered to the question: to what extent Russian legislation allows society to participate in the political life, by estimating a political activity index (W ap(ap) ). Additionally, the political activity correlate index (W ap(k) ) was checked, that enable to correct the obtained result on the basis of legal provisions according to the real dimension of the Russian political activity.