National-Cultural Autonomy in the System of Dialogue between the Government and Civil Society: The Communication Dimension of the Process of Nation-Building in Modern Russia (Using the Example of the Volga Federal District)

Aims: identification of the political and legal conditions of the normative and organizational plan, fixing the possibilities and limits of enhancing the participation of civil society institutions in achieving the goals of the state national policy of the Russian Federation and in promoting the process of nation-building in the context of the guidelines declared by the authorities.Methods: unformalized traditional analysis of documents, formal legal method, methods of political diagnostics, comparative and system analysis.Results and discussion: the content and structure of the communication system of the state and civil society institutions (with an emphasis on national and cultural autonomy) at the Federal and regional levels are characterized. The experience of the republics — subjects of the Russian Federation included in the Volga Federal district is investigated, its features taking into account the ethnopolitical factor are shown.Conclusion: National-cultural public associations play at the present stage an indispensable role in the formation and development of ethno-cultural and all-Russian civil identities. However, only national-cultural autonomies, whose opportunities for political influence are extremely limited, are actually built into the normative communication system. The identified gaps and vulnerabilities at the national level encourage the improvement of management practices. It is necessary to intensify information and educational work in terms of updating the content of official websites and wider coverage of the activities of state bodies, public associations and Advisory councils. This will make it possible to strengthen the publicity, transparency and attractiveness of management decisions for citizens, national minorities, titular Nations and diasporas, the activities carried out and ensure the achievement of not only formal but also qualitative target indicators.