Not nationalists: Russian teenagers' soulful A-politics

This article is an investigation into Russian teenagers' political leanings and identificational preferences. Its goals are threefold: (1) to reveal young people's ethnic attitudes and their commitment to one or another vision of the Russian nation; (2) to explore the relative attractiveness of extremist and moderate political platforms, and (3) to interpret how these adolescents, who began life as Soviet children and then experienced the fragmentation of the USSR, relate overall to politics and politicians. Its major aim is to delineate the contours of young Russians' political culture, especially in regard to its potential for ethnic discrimination and violence.