Aspects of Social Justice in the Civic Participation of Russian Ethnic Group in Lithuania

Abstract

The article presents empirical data from qualitative interviews with leaders and representatives of Russian ethnic group nongovernmental organizations conducted inthe cities of Vilnius, Klaipėda and Kaunas in 2016–2017. The analysis of aspects of social justice in civic participation of the Russian ethnic minority group is presented in the article. The author applies the definition of Nancy Fraser (1996, 2007), who distinguishes three dimensions of social justice: economic, cultural and political, associated with redistribution, recognition policy and political representation. It is discussed if and how the motives, goals and activities of the Russian nongovernmental organizations are linked or related to these mentioned dimensions. The study revealed that the field of activity of the Russian nongovernmental organizations mainly focuses on cultural activities and cultural aspects related to the policy of recognition of ethnic groups. The empirical data is collected in the framework of the research project which addresses the experiences of social and historical justice by different generations of Lithuanians and Lithuanian Russians. The research project is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania and conducted by a group of researchers from the Lithuanian Social Research Centre (the number of this project is LIP-031/2016).