Youth segment of the deputy corps of regional legislatures of the Russian Federation: socio-professional characteristics, recruitment sources, career trajectories

The relevance of the research is based on the need to study the youth segment of the political elite in the conditions of generational and gender gaps. For the first time, the groups of male and female deputies under the age of 30 who were elected to regional parliaments during the electoral cycles of 2016-2020 are analyzed from a comparative perspective. The subject of the study is the socio-professional characteristics, sources of recruitment, career trajectories of people's deputies in the context of assessing their potential as a personnel reserve of the ruling class's institutionalization of the regional youth elite. The objectives of the study are to identify trends in the development of the recruitment process of the youth segment of the deputy corps of regional parliaments, similarities and differences in the characterization of groups of young male and female deputies. The hypothesis of the study is that the process of institutionalization of the regional youth elite is problematic, that there are universal factors contributing to the entry of young people into the political elite, and specific factors reflecting the gender aspects of the formation of the ruling class. The sources of the dataset were the websites of regional legislatures, specialized portals dedicated to deputies of various levels, media materials, network communities. The main research methods were literature analysis, collection and processing of statistical data. Among the key trends in the mechanisms for recruiting young leaders to the regional parliaments of the Russian Federation, the authors highlight the influence of party politics, public and informal institutions, as well as the gender factor on the development of criteria and mechanisms for selecting young leaders for legislative work in the region. These trends reflect the problematic nature of the process of creating a youth reserve of the regional political elite, which in practical terms requires the development and implementation of a youth personnel policy that includes gender aspects.