Actual trends of the protest activity in the south of Russia: nature, forms, content

The paper analyzes the level of the protest activity of the Southern Federal District for year 2015. The author of the study uses the database of protest activity formed in the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Humanities of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The database the includes information from various sources. The research confirmed that the increase of the poverty in the country influences the increase in the protest potential, as well as the expansion of the protest activity with new categories of demonstrators including disadvantaged citizens. The article determines geography, nature, form, frequency, mass, and participants of manifestations. Protest leaders of the South of Russia were Volgograd, Rostov and Krasnodar regions. There is the tendency of the formation of a peripheral protest. It is concluded that the level of the protest activity decreased a bit in 2015 compared to 2011. During the analyzed period, the level of protest activity of social and economic nature is much higher than that of political and ecological orientation. Peak growth of protest practices was recorded in November 2015 due to the strike movement “Antiplaton” where truckers played an important role. The author comes to the conclusion that due to the elections of 2016 the protest activity will increase and transform from the socio-economic to the political protest in the South of Russia.