‘New’ Russian North: The Historical Province Amidst оf Social and Political Problems

Abstract

This article analyzes the nature of colonization processes in the European north of Russia in different eras. Special consideration is given to the problematic nature of modern demographic and social processes and their ethno-cultural component. Significant attention is paid to the analysis of the nature of the social and cultural development in the European North in previous eras and to the rethinking of existing interpretations of the process of the socialist industrialization in this area. It is demonstrated that from the standpoint of the general sociological approach, this industrialization cannot be viewed as a process of modernization, and therefore it would be more correct to speak of the next stage of colonization, the penal one. In the late Soviet period, a transition to a new model of the regional development took place. However, this new model presupposed neither the civil integration nor the formation of rooted societies. Strong rooted territorial communities with a clearly defined identity have not formed in the northern republics and oblasts. It is shown that there is an urgent need to form a new model for the development of the European north, using both the resource of cultural heritage and modern approaches to the formation of the industrial and social environment. In addition, the need for a large-scale renewal of the regional political elites as well as the very principles of their formation is becoming more and more obvious. The work uses comparative historical and ethnographic methods, the provisions of migration theory, the statistical and sociological methods (mass polls), as well as political and sociological approaches to understanding social conflict. As for the political science approaches, the article is based on the provisions of rational choice theory.

Keywords

• russian north
• region identity
• social processes
• colonization
• regional elites
• political sentiments