Policing, Youth Activism and Vigilantism in Russia

• In Event: IASOC Presents: Evolving forms of Policing and Social Control in the Post-Soviet Region

Abstract

In this presentation, I will deal with the new forms of involvement of citizens in law enforcement which have flourished since 2010 in Russia. I will especially focus on young vigilante groups enforcing legal norms on drugs, alcohol and tobacco consumption in the public space. I will analyse their activity, focusing on the videos they broadcast on Youtube: how do they justify resorting to the use of force while enforcing the law? Which vision of social conflicts and state-society relations do they promote? Relying on a comparative perspective, I will try to define these mobilizations as forms of vigilantism in order to understand their peculiarities. I will especially show that these groups, which at times are suppressed, develop ambivalent relationships with state institutions and contribute to redefining the frontiers of legitimate violence in today’s Russia.

Author

• Gilles Favarel-Garrigues, CNRS, Sciences Po-CERI