New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan

Drawing from an extensive database and a cross-national comparative approach, this book examines the ways and reasons why new media promotes political participation among young people in Russia and Kazakhstan. The author develops theoretical models that better explain how new-media use translates into political participation.

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New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Young People in Eurasia confronts the sociological problem of the usage of new media by young people in political participation, particularly in Eurasian countries. The author explains how and why new media promotes political participation among young people in Russia and Kazakhstan. While there has been no shortage of analysis about the interlinkage between new media and political participation, this research is different—it explains the mechanisms and reasons of new-media-assisted political participation. This book develops two models—theoretical and New-Media-Led Political Participation—that better explain how new-media use translates into political participation. These models are of paramount importance for the study of new-media-led political participation, which builds in-depth knowledge to the research area from a post-communist perspective. This book not only sheds light on the ways in which, and the reasons why, new media contributes to the nature of political participation, but also explains why citizens use new media in their political participation. The author sets his sights on what occurs downstream, i.e., not in the minds of political leaders and/or well-known oppositionists but on the ground in specific contexts such as cities, towns, and villages by young people.