Abstract

Russian authorities have been increasingly willing to facilitate apolitical collective action to deal with day-to-day problems. A case in point is community self-organisation, known as ‘territorial self-management’ (TSM), supported by local administrations through cost-sharing and other means. We use a unique dataset on TSM in the city of Kirov to study the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. TSM accommodates a mix of cultural traits in a given society, combining social capital and awareness of public problems with a scepticism about political participation and a preference for government patronage. TSM increases approval of local government in the supported communities but can also spark broader collective action that restores the agency relation between society and government.

摘要

俄罗斯当局越来越愿意促进非政治性的集体行动，以解决日常问题。一个典型的例子是社区自我组织，称为“领土自我管理”（TSM），由地方行政部门通过成本分摊和其他方式提供支持。我们在基洛夫市使用一个关于 TSM 的独特数据集来研究这种现象的原因和后果。TSM 适应特定社会的多种文化特征，将社会资本和对公共问题的认识与对政治参与的怀疑和对政府赞助的偏好相结合。TSM 增加了受支持社区对地方政府的认可，但也可以激发更广泛的集体行动，以恢复社会与政府之间的代理关系。