Devolution,Constitutional Development,and the Russian North

A prominent American Sovietologist examines a range of issues surrounding the involuntary migration of Russian populations from the non-Russian republics of the former USSR. Among the questions addressed are possible magnitudes of in-migration into Russia (with special attention paid to conditions in one of the major source regions, Central Asia), attitudes in Russia regarding appropriate policy with respect to treatment of co-nationals in the near abroad and whether their return to Russia would have a positive or negative impact, and conditions in areas of Russia that presently are absorbing the greatest numbers of migrants. The assertion that Russian policy should seek aggressively to prevent the out-migration of Russian populations in the near abroad is assessed critically. 1 table, 1 figure, 10 references.     

SOVIET POPULATION CHANGE AND CITY GROWTH 1970-79: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

The total, urban and rural population of major civil divisions of the Soviet Union and the population of cities over 100,000 are analyzed and mapped on the basis of preliminary results of the 1979 census. Total population growth rates declined during the 1970–79 intercensal period compared with the 1959–70 period while urbanization continued apace, although unevenly on a regional basis. The Slavic and other western republics, which show the highest urbanization levels of 60 percent and more, were also characterized by the lowest overall growth rates of 6 to 8 percent. Rural population declined almost everywhere outside a southwestern belt of high growth extending from parts of the southern Ukraine through Transcaucasia to Central Asia. Among large cities, moderate growth continues among cities with a multifunctional economy; high rates are evident in cities with major current industrial projects (automotive, for example) and in oil production regions; low rates are typical of some coal-mining and steelmaking centers. (For another report on the 1979 census, see “News Notes,” Soviet Geography, September 1979.)     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN THE USSR, 1970-1988: PART I (PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY)

The first of two articles devoted to spatial and temporal trends in economic development and levels of living within the USSR focuses on changes in the pattern of absolute and per capita economic output—national income produced and gross value of industrial output (at the republic and economic regional level, respectively). It then investigates the question of whether divergence or convergence has occurred among republics and economic regions in terms of these indicators. Finally, it assesses patterns of change in labor and capital productivity across Soviet republics.     

Integrated Regional Geographic Atlases

The author reviews work on atlases of Soviet republics and oblasts published in 1961–64, containing maps on physical geography, population, economy and culture. He finds that these atlases suffer from a lack of practical purposefulness and inadequate coordination. These weaknesses are to be remedied in a new coordinated project of natural-resource atlases of the major republics and economic regions of the USSR initiated in 1963.     

On the Comparative Effectiveness of the Economic Structure of Regions

An important problem in insuring optimal operation of the centrally planned and state-controlled economy of the Soviet Union is to measure the efficacy of the industrial structure and productive specialization of republics and economic regions. Several measures of the efficacy of regional economies have been proposed, involving various relationships between labor productivity, the value of capital plant and equipment and the value of output. All these measures are unsatisfactory, in the author's view, and an alternate approach is suggested, using the net concept of national income produced by regions. This approach has been made possible by the recent calculation of input-output tables for republics and economic regions. The idea of using national income as a measure of regional economic efficacy was first proposed in the Soviet literature by A. Ye. Probst, whose comments appear elsewhere in the issue of Soviet Geography.     

INDUSTRIAL DISPERSION IN THE SOVIET UNION: AN APPLICATION OF ENTROPY MEASURES

Industrial dispersion across the republics of the USSR between 1926 and 1974 is described through the use of entropy measures. Ostensibly, a set of location principles would guide such dispersion, and several of them stress regional equalization as an important consideration in locating industry. Therefore, trends in regional inequality (in industrialization) are investigated through the use of inequality statistics derived from entropy measures at three different spatial scales. Between 1926 and 1960, inequality among the republics decreased, but has increased between 1960 and 1974. However, inequality has decreased between the economic regions of the USSR between 1940 and 1975, and at the oblast level, there has been a tendency toward greater equality (homogeneity) within each economic region or republic since 1960. In attempting to account for these diverse trends, it is suggested that they are largely the result of the priority of efficiency considerations in location decisions rather than those of regional equity per se.     

FROM KARLO-LIBKNEKHTOVSK AND NEW YORK TO PROPOYSK AND RASTYAPINO?: HOW PLACE NAMES ARE CHANGING IN THE FORMER USSR

In a paper submitted directly to Post-Soviet Geography, the author presents as thorough a list of place name changes as possible for the former USSR for the period 1985 to mid-1992. The situation is assessed with respect to the former union republics, nationality-based lower-order administrative territorial units, oblasts and krays, and major cities and urban settlements. The list appears to represent the most thorough and authoritative compilation of its kind yet published in the West, given the absence of any official body now empowered with the approval and registration of place name changes across the entire geographic space of the former USSR.     

我国城市社会空间结构特征及其演变趋势

城市社会空间结构是城市社会分化在地域空间上的表现.本文在介绍西方城市社会空间一般规律的基础上,分析研究了我国城市社会空间独有的结构特征及其形成机制,并结合我国城市社会经济状况的变化,对我国城市社会空间结构的演变趋势进行了探讨.     

Scientific Principles of the General Outline for the Location of Productive Forces of the USSR for the Period up to 1970

The Council for the Study of Productive Forces, the preplanning economic research agency of the USSR, has completed a general outline for economic development of the Soviet Union over the period 1971–1980. The general outline contains sections devoted to particular sectors of the economy, to particular republics and economic regions, and to major areal development complexes. It is the result of a five-year effort that involved 20,000 scholars and technicians associated with 560 research and planning agencies. The present paper deals with the fundamental principles that guided the drafting of this 10-year development program, which has not been published. The paper focuses on five aspects that have been of particular relevance in resolving location problems: (1) the accelerating rate of scientific and technical progress, (2) the assuring of the proper territorial proportions in economic development, (3) the formation of new regions and economic complexes, (4) new problems in the man-nature relationship, notably environmental pollution, and (5) the close relationship between systems of settlement and the location of development projects.     

ECONOMIC-GEOGRAPHIC PECULIARITIES OF FORMATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL-TERRITORIAL COMPLEXES OF UNION REPUBLICS

Differences in industrial development of the Soviet union republics are found to persist, and the basic factors are analyzed. The presence of a skilled labor force is an important factor in insuring a high level of industrial output per capita and a high rate of return on capital. However, the distribution of labor-intensive industries does not always conform to the availability of labor resources. Such industries have reached a high level in the Baltic republics, where the reproduction rate is low and additional labor must be brought in from the outside, and they have not been fostered in Central Asia, where the rate of natural increase is high. The emphasis on resource-based industries that is characteristic of some republics (oil and gas in Azerbaydzhan and Turkmenia, nonferrous metals in Kazakhstan, etc.) is usually associated with a high level of fixed assets (capital intensity) and a low rate of return as well as low levels of industrial output per capita.     

INTERREGIONAL MIGRATION ANALYSIS

A formula for migration rate, proposed by Bogue, Shryock and Hoermann (1957), is modified to yield a simple coefficient of migration intensity for the analysis of the intensity of interregional streams of migration among the 72 oblasts, krays and autonomous republics of the RSFSR, the principal republic of the Soviet Union. The coefficient, which eliminates the impact of the populations of both region of origin and region of destination on the value of the coefficient, is obtained by dividing the shares of all regions of origin in the migration to each region of destination by the shares of the regions of destination in the total population of all regions. The 5112 coefficients of migration intensity are arrayed in a table and subjected to some preliminary analysis of migration patterns. The basic pattern is determined by 171 coefficients with values of 5 or higher, accounting for 3.4 percent of the total number of coefficients.     

地方性中心城市空间扩张的多元动力--基于葫芦岛市的调查和分析

葫芦岛市近年来的空间扩张主要有三种表现方式:其一是在建成区内部和边缘的零散开发;其二是采用园区建设的方式进行组织化和规模化的开发,其三是在主城区边缘由民间资本自下而上推进的工业化和小城镇发展,并实现与主城区的功能一体化。深入的调查和分析显示,城市的空间扩张以及有关的基础设施建设,是在理性的规划力、市场力、市政府的发展冲动、区政府的发展冲动、民间的创业冲动、环境吸引力等多元动力共同作用下进行的。多数地方性中心城市的发展动力的总和相对并不充足。这一基本背景和城市空间战略密切相关。     

REPUBLICS OF THE FORMER USSR1 IN THE CONTEXT OF A UNITED EUROPE AND NEW WORLD ORDER

A comparative study investigates how individual Soviet republics would match up, as independent states, with other world countries with respect to various measures of size, economic well-being, quality of life, location, and resources. When a composite U.N. measure of development is employed, the majority of Soviet republics are on par with the poorest countries of the European Community or the most advanced developing states. Possible analogues to the Soviet situation (i.e., disintegrating past empires or states with similar political geographic characteristics) are identified for further study.     

All is quiet on the Russian front: ceasefires and the pursuit of legitimacy by self-proclaimed “republics” in Ukraine

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the pursuit of legitimacy by the self-proclaimed “republics” in Ukraine. While these “republics” are illegal, questions of their legitimacy are commonly discussed almost entirely through Weberian rule-conformity. We argue that this one-dimensional view of legitimacy overlooks the rich context of normative aspects of power relationships. If the occupied Donbas is to be reintegrated into Ukraine, it is essential to understand the perceived legitimation of the political institutions in this region. We use David Beetham’s framework of legitimacy—consisting of legality, morality, and consent—to analyze the “republics’” pursuit of legitimacy. Our analysis leads to the proposition that while the “republics” are illegal, their supporters’ normative perceptions of the right to govern have ascribed more validity to the fake “governments” than what would have been expected from a legal point of view. Additionally, while a ceasefire between the Russian proxies and Ukraine’s forces has reduced violence, it has also levied temporal effect on the legitimation of illegitimate institutions. Our treatment of the process of legitimation over time helps us identify potential strategies of delegitimization should DPR and LPR reincorporate with Ukraine-controlled territory. Without dismantling internal perceptions of institutional legitimacy among inhabitants of nongovernment-controlled areas, a re-integration could not be accomplished.     

The Economic Performance of European Cities and City Regions: Myths and Realities

The ever-increasing concentration of people and economic growth in the largest cities relative to the rest of the country has slowed down or even reversed in many of the developed European countries over the last decade. This trend contradicts what the global cities, urban economics and new economic geography literature would predict. This trend can be interpreted from two points of view: (1) the trend is due to large obstacles to further large city urbanization and thus is inefficient or (2) this trend highlights alternative pathways to growth than the mega-city approach and may be as, if not more, efficient. This trend may be linked to Europe's uniquely polycentric urban structure with high number of small- and medium-sized cities. In addition, improvements in the access to services, including broadband, outside large cities may have facilitated the higher growth rates of smaller centres and rural regions and increased their appeal for residents and firms. Last but not least, negative externalities in the large cities, such as congestion costs, pollution, labour crowding and high cost of living, may increase the appeal of smaller centres and rural regions.     

REGIONAL INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURES AND ECONOMIC PROSPECTS IN THE FORMER USSR

The value of output, employment, and capital stock for each industrial sector for each oblast-level spatial unit in the former USSR, as well as differences in regional industrial structures are presented on the basis of a unique set of unpublished Goskomstat data. Particular emphasis is placed on asessing the regions' relative raw materials endowments, especially with respect to energy resources, and on the degree of diversification, or lack of same, within their industrial structures. The extremely uneven distribution of industrial capacity is examined in light of its role in determining the near- and longer-term economic prospects for the various republics and regions.     

SOCIALIST FEDERALISM AND SPATIAL EQUITY: REVIEW OF A DISCUSSION

The proceedings of a wide-ranging discussion at the Institute of Geography, Moscow on current political and territorial issues in the USSR are summarized by one of its participants. The key thrust of the discussion centered on the need to find ways of increasing the involvement of Soviet political and other geographers in the analysis of critical questions of Soviet federalism: the incongruence of political-administrative boundaries with ethnic and economic regions; the search for a viable division of authority among Moscow, the republics, and local soviets; mitigation of growing regional inequality engendered by perestroyka and regional khozraschet (translated by Jay K. Mitchell, PlanEcon, Inc., Washington, DC 20005).     

Russian Nationalist Orthodox Theology: A New Trend in the Political Life of Russia

Abstract

Presently nationalist circles seem to promulgate a synthesis of Russian Orthodox Christianity with Marxism and ultra-patriotism. Russian nationalist Orthodox theology teaches that Jesus Christ was Russian or Slavic; it leans toward violence and is apt to quickly change the target oppressor who is broadly defined as anyone who is non-Russian or non-Orthodox. Russian nationalist Orthodox theology may be used at the Presidential Elections 2008 to boost an ultra-nationalist candidate.     

Contrasts between first-tier and second-tier cities in Europe: a functional perspective

Second-tier cities have been experiencing renewed interest within policy and research contexts, which is reversing a tradition of relative neglect due to the long-standing focus on large cities and capitals. This paper compares European second-tier and first-tier cities with regard to the presence of urban functions and how these are spread over their urban regions. The analysis shows the existence of a substantial ‘first city bonus’: a surplus of urban functions in first-tier cities which cannot be explained by their size or network embeddedness. We also show that second-tier cities are better served with urban functions in the absence of a dominant capital. In first-tier urban regions, the core municipality exploits the critical mass of the urban region to support its own functions, leaving that region functionally underserved. Second-tier cities lack this absorptive capacity, and their urban regions are endowed with more urban functions. These functional differences mean that second-tier cities demand a differentiated research and policy approach, in which city-regional integration becomes an important territorial development strategy. Rather than the dispersion process in first-tier cities leading to a ‘regionalization of the city’, integration in second-tier urban regions may be seen as a process of ‘citification of the region’.     

The Changing Geography of Violence in Russia's North Caucasus, 1999-2011: Regional Trends and Local Dynamics in Dagestan,Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria

Three U.S. geographers analyze the temporal and spatial trends of 17,438 violent events in Russia's North Caucasus region from August 1999 to July 2011, demonstrating that the diffusion of conflict away from Chechnya intensified during the period 2007-2011, as levels of violence rose in neighboring republics. An increasing number of casualties are civilians in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria, the three republics that are the focus of the paper. Employing multiple methods of spatial pattern analysis and geographically sensitive regression models, the authors examine the spatial fragmentation of violence from the perspective of rebel groups operating in the three republics. The analysis documents how the incidence of violence varies dramatically over space (i.e., reflecting the influence of urbanization, strategic location, and physical geographic factors such as elevation and extent of forest cover). Although violence in the North Caucasus region as a whole has declined in absolute terms over the past four years, the authors show how new geographies of violence are developing in the region, underscoring the emergence of republic-based insurgent operations against the various organs of the Russian state. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H560, H770, O180. 9 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix, 103 references: