The possibilities for civic participation in societies with high levels of state control remain a subject of intense debate. Addressing this question, this article examines youth civic activism in contemporary Russia. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with young activists from St. Petersburg, it explores the meanings they assign to civic participation and the forms through which they enact it. The article argues that despite increasing state control and shifting structural opportunities, young people actively pursue socially significant projects, thereby enacting a form of 'activated citizenship.' This citizenship is driven by two closely intertwined motivations - self-development and societal improvement - centred on the mundane transformation of both the individual and their environment. The study identifies three key types of grassroots initiatives in St. Petersburg: 'passion-driven initiatives,' 'professionalizing organizations,' and 'civic start-ups.' These types are distinguished by their core meanings, operational forms, and logics of engagement with the state. Overall, the findings reveal a focus on everyday, reflexive participation aligned with sustainable lifestyles and a strengthening trend towards a 'contingent symbiosis' with the state. Within this symbiosis, young activists consciously distance themselves from explicit political agendas, striving instead to position themselves as pragmatic partners in dialogue with state structures.
As the number of people with migrant backgrounds has increased, the need to explore their conceptualizations of civic engagement (CE) has risen. Few have, however, explored how migrants make sense of this notion, and whether their sense-making is related to the civic activities they perform. This is why this paper addresses these knowledge gaps by analysing 60 qualitative interviews with older migrants aged 60 and over in Belgium, Finland, Spain and Sweden, and juxtaposes their sense-making to the answers they offer to a participatory questionnaire. The participants use three distinct conceptualizations when explaining how they make sense of CE: (a) some allude to specific civic activities, (b) some refer to the endgames that these activities accomplish and (c) some mention both: activities and endgames. The analysis shows, however, that even those who engage civically in various ways use a limited purview when formulating what CE means to them. By offering insight into how older migrants make sense of CE, this paper questions some of the taken-for-granted assumptions that research on migrants' civic engagement tends to make.
