The State of Network Public Associations in the Regions of Southwest Siberia

The authors analyze the network public associations in Southwest Siberia, their goals, tasks, structure, forms, resource and development potential to assess their state. The methodological basis of the research is the theory of network society by Manuel Castells. The empirical basis of the research is the results of social media and instant messengers monitoring, as well as an expert survey of the studied communities' leaders and moderators. The authors identified 82 urban and regional communities during the studied regions' monitoring (Altai Krai, Novosibirsk Oblast, Kemerovo Oblast, and Tomsk Oblast); these communities' activity is related to solving important social problems. There were 15 experts from the four indicated regions participating in the expert survey conducted from May to June 2021. The results show that the main problem areas of the studied associations are: hail suppression and urban planning, ecology and nature protection, patriotism and civic education. The research demonstrates that self-organizing communities are actively forming, especially in the last four years, using the Internet and social media to attract new participants. Associations use both traditional and online forms, which complement each other, to conduct their activities and coordinate their supporters. According to the level of organization and the presence of a governing body, civic associations are divided into four levels, but mostly they are voluntary self-organizations of citizens. Most civic initiatives do not have sustainable and permanent funding, they carry out their activities through grants and their supporters' resources. They form numerous connections with other civic groups and non-profit organizations. Despite the non-political nature of their activities, the listed communities interact with local government structures, using their support in solving many local problems. The majority of experts are confident in the increase in the relevance of the problems of the studied communities and, as a consequence, in the expansion of civic participation forecasting the dynamics of the civic association's self-organization.

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