About the Project

Today, countries around the world face new global crises (economic, political, social). Rising unemployment and the precariousness of the labour market, difficult to control migration flows, growing extremist attitudes/movements, etc. are observed everywhere. In such a situation, young people are becoming one of the most vulnerable groups, which raises the question of the capacity of existing government programmes to respond quickly to challenges and cope with crisis situations for young people. All states are forced to review their youth policies both at the national level and at the level of global cooperation. The epidemiological crisis of this year, which led to national self-isolation and a mass return of citizens to their homelands (to their countries), is also pushing to this point. The world has become as local (national) and as global as possible at the same time. The situation of multiple crises and new risks requires a fundamental reassessment of the relevance of existing youth programmes, rethinking the priorities and focus of national and supranational youth policies.

The fundamental scientific task of this project is to study the anti-crisis potential of modern youth policies in Russia and European countries, and to identify resources and means that allow or do not allow states to cope with crisis situations and redefine the formats of interaction and work with young people, increasing the stability of the country itself and the well-being of young people. Modern national youth policies in Europe and Russia are based on different models of national imaginary (the image of the country in the present and future), on different understandings and meanings of patriotism as a sense of belonging to the country, and on different regimes of social and civic engagement of young people. The anti-crisis potential, seen in this project as the ability of national governments to cope with crisis situations for young people, directly depends on these differences, allows different responses to global challenges, and will be analyzed in detail by researchers at the theoretical and empirical levels.

The novelty of the proposed project lies in the choice of the analysis focus - the anti-crisis potential of youth policies, as well as in the comparative analysis of the Russian experience with the experience of other European countries - Finland, Germany, Greece and the UK.

To achieve the project's goals and objectives, the following methods are used: analysis of secondary data (statistics, policy documents, research results and academic discussions on the stated topic) and expert online interviews with scientists and practitioners involved in research, development and implementation of youth policies in five selected countries (Russia, Finland, Germany, UK, Greece). The data are collected in Russian and English.

Among the most significant results of the project are expected:

• a new fundamental theoretical approach to understanding the anti-crisis potential of youth policies in Russia and European countries;
• a developed methodology for studying the anti-crisis potential of the world's youth policies;
• highlighted strengths and weaknesses of youth programs in Russia in foreign countries;
• developed recommendations for government agencies and non-profit sector organizations to work effectively with young people in conditions of high uncertainty, new risks and new global crises;
• two academic publications representing the results of fundamental research;
• practical workshops for the interested stakeholders.