Life Support System of Inner Mongolia of the PRC: Theoretical Model and Practical Implementation

Abstract

The investigation is devoted to the analysis of the life support system of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the PRC. The main goal of this article is to determine the structural components of this system, as well as to characterize its content features. The relevance of this topic is determined by the peculiarities of the socio-economic development of this region, its strategic and geopolitical significance in the implementation of the PRC’s domestic and foreign policy. The concept of a life support system is not yet widely used in modern sociological science, including due to the need to include various parameters to identify a holistic model. Initially, this term was used to describe the physical conditions of the environment. Within the framework of this article, the authors attempted to give a general description of the life support system in terms of socio-economic and socio-cultural parameters. The objectives of the investigation are to identify the most characteristic features of the existing practice of forming a life support system in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, to determine the factors that can influence economic and socio-cultural processes. Special attention is paid to the analysis of official statistics data in relation to the empirical data of the authors. The results obtained make it possible to formulate scenarios for the predicted development of the region in the context of its participation in global projects initiated by China in the last decade. The article was carried out within the framework of the implementation of the state assignment of the IMBTS SB RAS.