Protest and Trust in the Volgograd Region: Peculiarities of the Regional System of Political Communication

The institutionalization of public space in the subjects of the Russian Federation is characterized by the alignment of regional systems of political communication, which have both common basic structural elements and specific parameters determined by several factors and conditions. The article analyzes the emergence and development of the system of political communication between the institutions of regional power (primarily the executive power) and citizens in the Volgograd Region amidst the growing influence of global problems (such as the spread of COVID-19), the conduct of the special military operation in Ukraine, international sanctions against Russia, etc. At the same time, the novelty of the authors’ approach lies not so much in the study of the information and communication openness in the regional politics, but in identifying the nature of civil and political trust between the leading actors of communication in the Volgograd Region. Combining the action and political-communicative approaches allowed the authors to build a methodological strategy for the analysis of institutional and non-institutional actors of regional public policy that have different resources affecting the level and dynamics of mutual trust in the communication process. The paper argues that at present both the political activity, including the protest of the population, and the ability to reproduce sustainable and stable development are largely depending on the level of mutual trust between the regional authorities and the citizens. The authors attempt to identify the dominant factors that determine the vectors of trust and confrontation in the regional system of political communications.