JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 12, 2020 REGARDING POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN MODERN RUSSIA Zinira F. Abrarova1, Larisa I. Benina2, Olga B. Mayatskaya3, Svetlana R. Parfyonova4, Aidar V. Sharipkulov5 1Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Youth Work at Bashkir State University, PhD 2Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Political Science of Bashkir State University, PhD in Philosophy 3Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Political Science of Bashkir State University, PhD in Philosophy 4Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Political Science of Bashkir State University, PhD in Law 5postgraduate student of the Department of Philosophy and Political Science at Bashkir State University Received: 14 Feb 2020 Revised and Accepted: 25 Aril 2020 ABSTRACT: The paper aims at analyzing the reasons for the lack of civic motivation to improve the system of political decision-making and political participation as a basis for the implementation of the constitutional principle of democracy.Analyzing the data of sociological studies conducted by Russian Public Opinion Research Center in 2005, 2012 and 2018 on interest in politics and on manifestations of political participation during periods of electoral activity, the authors conducted a secondary study on the dialectics of interaction between the authorities and citizens in the political and legal space of Russia, using the method of comparison and grouping (3,000 respondents as of January, 2018).The results of the study illustrate the rather active political participation of citizens: it is large-scale, intensive, and at the same time autonomous and conventional. The parameters of the political participation of this study are characteristic of the most active period – the presidential election campaign.Thus, the political participation of citizens in elections is traditionally massive, which was confirmed by the percentage of those who voted in 2018 (the turnout was over 67%) and in 2012 (the turnout was 65.4%). However, the preservation of the activity of political participation in the post-election period is considered unlikely (as evidenced by the decrease in the percentage ratio), which illustrates the political fatigue, fragmentation and periodicity, characteristic of a country with a statist form of political management. KEYWORDS: political activity, political process, political culture, democracy, the legitimation of power, non- governmental organizations. I. INTRODUCTION The relevance of the study lies in the lack of an alternative to the political process of the last decades in Russia; this is proof that the electoral preferences of citizens are latent and cannot correlate with the qualitative composition of the deputies. There is no satisfaction of the political needs of all population groups. The authors reach this conclusion by considering the political and legal relations that develop during the election cycles at different levels, influencing the type of electoral reflection manifested in respect or disrespect for the institution of elections regardless of people's views and their political preferences. The internal political and international situation in modern Russia at the beginning of the XXI century has a definite influence on the social and political processes in Russian society. The urgent need to change the tired political party elite, the ongoing personnel changes in the governor's office do not affect the fundamentals of the constitutional order and are not ‘cosmetic’ at the same time. The hypothesis of the study is the assumption that the electoral system of a mixed type, the formality/monotony of party programmatic, the absence of party competition during the period of electoral silence (inter-electoral cycle) muffles the political interest of voters and their inclusion in the political life of the country. The dominant 1837 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 12, 2020 nature of a multi-party configuration, due to its political certainty which delivers a deliberately system-forming character, provokes the electorate to inaction. As a national political document, the Message of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly is considered, in which the examined structure of relations regarding representative power is viewed. Thus, in the Message of March 1, 2018, V.V. Putin assessed the state of the country as follows: “We have ensured stability in almost all spheres of life, and this is critically important for our vast multinational country with a complex federal structure, with a variety of cultures, with a memory of historical faults and most difficult trials that fell to the share of Russia. However, sustainability is the basis but not a guarantee of further development. We have no right to allow the stability achieved to lead to complacency. Moreover, many problems are far from being resolved. Russia today is one of the leading states with a powerful economic and defense potential. Yet, from the point of view of the most important task – ensuring the quality of life and the well-being of people – we, of course, have not yet reached the level we need”1. The President makes a forecast for the coming years, which, in his opinion, will be decisive for the future of the country. Forecasting in this case is important for understanding the essence of what is happening, since Russian President V.V. Putin is frequently mentioned in connection with the increase in the country's competitiveness and with the definition of the state’s development strategy for the coming years, and this strategy is connected with the issues of further democratization of the life of the Russians. II. LITERATURE REVIEW In the article ‘On the Responsibility of Power’ researcher S.R. Parfenova2 speaks of national representation being a state power institution and of the fact said institution will justify its status only if the levers of control (dependent responsibility) will belong to those on whose behalf it acts. ‘Dependent responsibility’ as a mechanism for ensuring the attachment of a free mandate to the voter gives an understanding of the fact that the peculiarity of political participation is due to the one-sidedness of the political process. The verticality of the political process in Russia, in which the state plays a decisive role, guarantees a stable one-way communication with the population without providing systemic feedback, despite the abundance of public and civil control structures organized in compliance with the regulatory order. As practice shows, statism becomes the style of Russian political management, and in this sense political decision-making does not fully correlate with the interests of society as a whole. This thesis is illustrated by the state of healthcare and education, science, development of production and productive forces throughout Russia, including in remote areas. Besides, fragmentary articulation of individual interests, occasionally ‘rushing’ into the Russian political process, and the desire to play independently on the platform of political participation collapse. This is due to several reasons: the lack of system, and, therefore, dependence on sociopolitical causes that have a clearly articulative public expression and public resonance. Information and communication tools have little influence on the formation of public opinion and do not adequately provide feedback to the state. All this allows concluding that Russian political system provides no effective interaction between the subjects of the political process, which actualizes the present study and makes it meet the expectations of interest in finding ways that motivate political participation, as well as the search for new theoretical and methodological approaches to the interaction dialectics in the political and legal space of Russia. Positive moments in the trends of the Russian political process should be noted. Its open character, connected with the style of political leadership, ensures stability and predictability, despite some formality of the public discussion of political decisions and their shadowy nature, as well as the insufficiency of technocratic characteristics. At the same time, the development mode is a guaranteeing moment for the absence of political conflicts, when two or more political actors collide. Reaching the decision-making level and influencing the decisions content are the essence of understanding the ‘political participation’ category, developed over the centuries. Participation in elections of authorities, in rallies and demonstrations, party activities, participation funding of political parties and individual candidates during 1http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_291976/ access 5.03 2018. 2Parfenova S.R. On the responsibility of the authorities // Ethnosocium and interethnic culture, 2014- No.11 (77) - P.53-56. 1838 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 12, 2020 election campaigns, in turn, form a list of manifestations of political participation, including publications in various mass media to influence public opinion and political process. It should be noted that political participation (as a scientific category) and issues of the influence of political processes on the establishment of political power, the formation of political management, organization and conduct of elections to legislative representative bodies of state power are reflected in numerous fundamental and applied studies of