THE BAM AND THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET FAR EAST

The construction of the Baykal-Amur Mainline, which began in 1974 and is scheduled to be completed in 1983, is expected to have a profound impact on the economy of the Soviet Far East, whose development has long lagged because of lack of transport access to regional resources. The BAM is expected to foster the development of new industries, such as coal and steel, oil and gas, hydropower, metal fabrication and chemicals, and stimulate the expansion of traditional activities, such as gold and tin mining, fisheries and forest products. The BAM is also expected to play a key role in expanding trade between the Soviet Far East and the countries of the Pacific basin and the Indian Ocean. In light of the complex aspects of the BAM project, it is suggested that integrated planning procedures encompass not only the transport aspects of the project, but all economic activities to be generated as a result of the construction of the new railroad. In view of the labor shortage, a high level of labor-saving technology is recommended. Concern for the local environment is expressed in view of the extensive construction activities in permafrost. (Previous articles on the BAM appeared in Soviet Geography, April and October 1975.)     

SOVIET ASIAN-PACIFIC TRADE AND THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET FAR EAST

During the 1970s and early 1980s it was generally accepted, by both Soviet and Western specialists, that in the Soviet Far East the expansion of exports to the nations of the Pacific Basin offered a solution to the region's economic problems. However, recent policy statements suggest the rejection of this export-led development strategy. This study examines the changing structure and dynamics of Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region. At present, for a combination of economic and political reasons, Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region is dominated by exports of machinery and equipment and petroleum to the socialist nations of the region, inasmuch as Japanese demand for Soviet natural resources is stagnant. Therefore, because of the resource orientation of the Far Eastern economy, contemporary trade relations do not favor the expansion of the Soviet Far Eastern export base. Consequently, the future role of the region in the national economic system will be determined largely by the availability of domestic capital investment funds.     

PROBLEMS OF PASSENGER MOBILITY AND ROAD TRANSPORT IN THE SOUTHERN FAR EAST REGION

Dimensions of the road transport problem in the southern Far East Economic Region (Primorskiy Kray, Amur Oblast, and Khabarovsk Kray) are outlined and some of its social and economic impacts described (for example, the inadequate levels of services provision addressed in the preceding paper). Road connectivity and passenger mobility trends are analyzed before coverage shifts to more specific challenges confronting planners: the need to (a) separate inter-city from intra-city flows in cities along major transport corridors, (b) improve road surfaces, (c) reduce travel times and regulate seasonal fluctuations in service, and (d) provide a more favorable environment for growing private automobile use (translated by H. L. Haslett, Leamington Spa, UK).     

THE POPULATION DYNAMICS OF EAST SIBERIA AND PROBLEMS OF PREDICTION

A review of population trends in the USSR and in East Siberia suggests that net in-migration will become a negligible source of labor over the next 25 years until the year 2000 because past labor surpluses no longer exist in the western regions of the Soviet Union and because living conditions in the eastern regions are inferior to conditions in the west. East Siberia will therefore have to depend increasingly on the regional rate of natural increase. The region's population is expected to grow from 8 million in 1970 to 10–12 million by the year 2000. The slow predicted growth of population is not expected to become a constraint on the region's economic development because of rising labor productivity and a regional emphasis on energy-intensive and raw-material-oriented industries rather than labor-intensive activities.     

GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE SOLIGORSK AREA IN CONNECTION WITH THE MINING AND PROCESSING OF POTASSIUM SALTS

Environmental problems associated with the mining and processing of the potassium salts of the Starobin deposit in Belorussia (the leading potash producer in the USSR) are described. Natural vegetation communities in areas leeward and downstream from heavily mineralized spoil piles and a sylvinite processing plant have sustained damage from salt pollution, ground and surface water supplies have been contaminated in certain areas, and the potential exists for the build-up of pollutants in the upper layer of agricultural soils if the shift toward shallower [surface] techniques of tillage continues (translated by Andrew R. Bond).     

前苏联的环境保护问题及其对中国生态文明建设的启示

环境问题是制约当今人类社会发展的重要问题,其中生态环境问题与国家兴衰、社会制度变革的关系成为可持续发展研究的一个热点。前苏联作为社会主义国家的代表,其环境问题及其与社会主义制度的兴衰关系引起了国际学术界的关注。在对前苏联环境问题、环境保护政策变迁及环境保护失败原因分析的基础上,研究认为严峻的国内外局势、畸形的经济发展模式和高度集中的政治体制等因素使得环境保护一直处在前苏联国家战略的边缘。随着中国经济发展受到资源与环境约束力增强,生态—环境问题开始成为左右政治生活的一个重要力量,生态文明建设对促进我国人与自然和谐发展、构建和谐社会具有重要意义。     

HEGEMONY,IMPERIALISM, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF RELIGION IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA1

Edward Said's concept of Orientalism portrays the high tide of nineteenth‐century imperialism as the defining moment in the establishment of a global discursive hegemony, in which European attitudes and concepts gained a universal validity. The idea of “religion” was central to the civilizing mission of imperialism, and was shaped by the interests of a number of colonial actors in a way that remains visibly relevant today. In East and Southeast Asia, however, many of the concerns that statecraft, law, scholarship, and conversion had for religion transcended the European impact. Both before and after the period of European imperialism, states used religion to engineer social ethics and legitimate rule, scholars elaborated and enforced state theologies, and the missionary faithful voiced the need for and nature of religious conversion. The real impact of this period was to integrate pre‐existing concerns into larger discourses, transforming them in the process. The ideals of national citizenship and of legal and scholarly impartiality recast the state and its institutions with a modernist sacrality, which had the effect of banishing the religious from the public space. At the same time, the missionary discourse of transformative conversion located it in the very personal realm of sincerity and belief. The evolution of colonial‐era discourses of religion and society in Asia since the departure of European imperial power demonstrates both their lasting power and the degree of agency that remains implicit in the idea of hegemony.     

秦汉时的行钱

行钱一辞见于《汉书·百官公卿表》,武帝元鼎三年,“郸侯周仲居为太常,坐不收赤仄钱收行钱论。” 周仲居获罪之由是因为“不收赤仄钱”、“收行钱”。行钱是什么?先看颜师古对这段话作出的解释:     

MY VIEW ON THE CHANGES IN THE NUMBER OF MONASTERIES AND MONKS AND NUNS IN TIBET

In Tibetan areas, prior to the Democratic Reform （1959-1960）, there were over 2,700 monasteries, and the population of monks and nuns totaled about 110,000, accounting for 10 percent of the total Tibetan population （1.2 million）.     

生态伦理的建构及其与可持续发展关系的探讨

本文结合相关研究,概括地分析了生态伦理的源起、生态伦理的发展及其基本特点和基本原则,在此基础上,又进一步探讨了生态伦理与可持续发展之间的内在关系.     

交通投资与经济发展的关系及其区域效应评价方法研究

交通投资与经济发展的内在关系一直没有公认的结论。大家普遍同意交通条件是经济发展的重要支撑要素之一。交通投资只有在生产条件充足的情况下,才会促进经济发展。但交通投资并不是越多越好,而是必须与生产投资保持适当比例。交通投资对交通条件改善的区域影响较为复杂,不同的范围有不同的影响。通达性是目前进行交通网络影响评价最为常用的手段。通达性指标有时间通达性、经济潜能和日通达性。不同的通达性指标从不同的角度对交通网络区域效应进行评价。本旨在对我国主要交通设施区域影响的评价研究起抛砖引玉的作用。     

A SUMMARY OF THE GLASGOW CONFERENCE ON SOVIET ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES

A meeting of the Advisory Panel on a major research project entitled “Soviet Environmental Policies and Practices: Most Critical Investment Priorities” was convened in Glasgow, Scotland on March 12 and 13, 1988. More than a dozen specialists from Britain, West Germany, and the United States participated. The meeting was hosted by the Institute of Soviet and East European Studies of Glasgow University. The results are summarized below.