Political Participation of Civic Associations Members: the Case of Older Volunteers in Saint Petersburg

The paper examines the mechanisms linking participation in a civic association and political participation of older people in Russia. The study questions the Neo-Tocquevillian approach to studying the political consequences of participation in civic associations. Within the framework of the theory of civic action, I analyze various aspects of membership in a civic association. Close attention is paid to the rarely considered linkage between civic and political participation in the non-democratic regime. The research utilizes the mixed methods strategy. Qualitative research on the basis of 31 semi-structured interviews with members of the volunteer association of Saint Petersburg reveals the meanings that people put in their voluntary and political participation. The narratives are then manually coded, and semantic network analysis is used on the data. I finally draw conclusions about the aspects of membership in a civic association that are related to the political participation of older people, and the mechanisms behind the relations. I highlight the way in which the political opportunities structure is reflected in the political activity of the volunteers.