The Laboratory for Comparative Social Research announces the next regular seminar, which will be held as a zoom session on November, 6 at 02:30 p.m. CET (04:30 p.m. Moscow time). Tatiana Tkacheva, PhD, LCSR research fellow, will deliver a report "Environmentalism and Support for Authorities: Evidence from Russian Regions". 

The seminar will take place online. To participate, please, register via the link.

Abstract

Does the support for authorities relate to the pro-environmental attitudes and behavior of the population? In this study, with the empirical case of Russia, I provide evidence that the pro-environmental orientation of a person is, indeed, related to the support of authorities expressed as the evaluation of their performance. However, this relationship is ambiguous. Only when environmental protection becomes politicized in the form of pro-environmental activism does it matter for political support. The relationship with other forms of pro-environmentalism, be it individual ecological practices or perception of personal responsibility for ecological issues, is not robust. Additionally, those respondents feeling stronger attachment to locality are more likely to also have negative attitudes towards the subnational chief executives (governors). Finally, among other factors, higher political trust positively relates to the support for regional authorities in Russia. Overall, the findings confirm the expectations that individual pro-environmental orientation matters for political support only when being enhanced by the actual involvement in ongoing situations in environmental protection through different forms of eco-activism. Without such experience, which, supposedly, gives more knowledge of the ongoing processes and related actors to be blamed, a pro-environmental orientation remains just a non-political individual characteristic with no connection with political support.

Everyone interested is invited!

Working language is English.