Youth organizations: the types and stages of formation of their interaction with the state (based on Russian sociological studies)

The article provides a review of studies devoted to the evolution of interaction between the state and youth organizations in Russia from the period of the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present. Analyzing the development of youth policy and the interaction between the state and youth movements, the authors have identified several approaches to the classification of youth organizations. These classifications reflect the goals, forms of activity, the degree of involvement of organizations in political life, as well as their relations with state structures, both in terms of state ideology and in terms of cooperation between the state and modern youth associations. The article shows the key stages of the transformation of youth policy in the territory of the modern Russian Federation: from the period of spontaneous formation of independent youth associations in the 1990s to centralized management and the strengthening of state control in the 2020s. The article presents the results of several sociological studies on the problem of the constantly changing system of relations between the state and participants in modern youth organizations at the level of the city, region, and country. The authors describe risks and prospects in the field of interaction between state authorities and youth organizations, analyze possible options for the interaction. The paper emphasizes the importance of evolutionary changes in the relationship between the state and youth organizations during the modern period of transformations, these pertaining to both domestic and foreign policy, in order not only to reduce social tension in society but also to form a productive and long-term state youth policy. An assessment of the position and role of youth organizations in modern Russian society is provided.