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.     

METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF LABOR RESOURCES

Soviet population geographers have tended to study labor-resource problems at the level of major civil divisions, such as republics, krays and oblasts. There is a real need for investigating such problems at a more detailed regional level, down to particular rayons and urban places in which people live and are employed. Various types of economic-geographic investigations of labor-resource problems are suggested and a research strategy is proposed. The author notes that if population cannot be redistributed regionally in keeping with a given economic objective, economic plans may have to be revised on the basis of the actual labor resource situation.     

URBAN PLANNING ASPECTS OF THE SPATIAL ORGANIZATION OF MOSCOW

A prominent analyst of Soviet agricultural developments examines the 1992 grain harvest in the former Soviet republics. Coverage includes selective attention to the effects of such factors as weather (both losses from drought and from winterkill), farmers' economic calculations (purchase prices, alternative markets, etc.), the availability of inputs, and measures undertaken at the local level to support the harvest. The assessment provided here indicates that earlier projections of a dramatically smaller 1992 grain harvest have been overstated and outlines measures that can be implemented to reduce dependency on grain imports.     

THE POLLUTION-CONTROL EXPERIENCE OF SOME SOVIET WATER-BASIN INSPECTORATES

The authors discuss the origin and background of the Soviet water-basin directorates. The legal rights and responsibilities of the inspectorates in water-pollution control are considered. Their methods of operation and the work record of some basin inspectorates are analyzed and recommended for general application. In particular, the experience in thr RSFSR, Ukraine and the Baltic republics is considered worthy of emulation. Problems of water protection and restoration are considered to be the most important in the field of environmental protection and are linked to further progress of the Soviet economy. (The article was contributed by Craig ZumBrunnen, University of Washington, Seattle.)     

USING EXPLANATORY SPATIAL MODELS IN PLANNING CONTEXTS (a reply)

The paper surveys a complex of challenges faced by the Ukrainian people in efforts to forge an independent Ukrainian state. These include charting an independent course within the new CIS, the allocation of former all-Union assets on Ukrainian territory, relations with minority ethnic groups (particularly Great Russians) in Ukraine, and potential territorial claims by neighboring states. Among economic problems faced by Ukrainian leaders are the need for reduced dependency upon energy imports, for structural change and renovation of aging industrial infrastructure, and for maintenance of favorable terms of trade with foreign countries and the former Soviet republics.     

ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SECTORAL AND SPATIAL MANAGEMENT IN THE ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY OF THE USSR

The management system of the electric power industry of the USSR operates at two technological levels: a lower level of 92 regional power systems, each encompassing one or more oblast-type civil divisions or a small union republic; an upper level in which regional systems are combined into 11 unified power systems, where peak loads can be more easily moved between time zones. In addition there are electric power administrations within the RSFSR and ministries within the union republics, concerned mainly with administrative functions. Power administrations often do not coincide with unified systems, creating problems of efficient electric power management. Furthermore, the boundaries of unified power systems and power administrations often do not conform to the boundaries of major economic regions, which are used for current and long-term planning of the Soviet economy. This does not necessarily mean that the power systems are out of step with the economic regions. Soviet economic regionalization theory has long stressed the important region-shaping role of electric power systems. It may well be that in some cases, the boundaries of economic regions, not the power systems, require adjustment.     

Interrepublic Trade in the Former Soviet Union: Structure and Implications

A senior CIA economist presents and analyzes the structure and implications of hitherto unpublished 1990 data on interrepublic trade, recently available from sources identified with the former Goskomstat SSSR. The study, unique in its access to statistical data of Soviet origin affording detailed comparisons of trade with indigenous sectoral detail, reveals advantages and dependencies inherent in the trade structures of each of the former Soviet republics. Analysis of the context in which interrepublican trade flows (valued in rubles and dollars) occurred highlights the relationship between drastic declines in industrial output and trade among the newly independent states in the 1990s. 9 figures, 18 tables, 12 references.     

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.     

论地缘战略的主体间性——兼论中国地缘战略抉择

主体间性一词是20世纪西方哲学凸显出来的一个重要概念,对这一问题的研究有助于解决本体论、认识论和伦理学等多方面的问题。简单来说,主体间性就是主体之间的交互作用。主体间性具有物质性、实践性、历史性和社会性,其存在于集体主体之中,可以通过"教化"获得。据此,本文通过对四个经典地缘政治理论,即国家有机体论、海权论、陆权论和边缘地带论的历史分析,挖掘了隐含在其中的主体间性。并以美国对苏联和中国实施的地缘战略围堵为例,通过分析同一地缘战略所导致的截然不同结果,表明了地缘战略的构建、制定和实施都必须遵循主体间性。最后根据主体间性提出中国未来地缘战略抉择。     

Managing National Diversity through Political Structures and Ideologies: The Soviet Experience in Comparative Perspective

Abstract. The nationalisms faced by Gorbachev after 1985 were an outcome of Soviet policies, and most of them were not secessionist. Why, then, couldn't the Soviet state accommodate them? This article puts Soviet attempts to manage ethnic diversity into a comparative perspective, and looks at some of the ways in which the ideology and political structures of the USSR contributed to its failure to overcome its ethnic problems. Like other authoritarian states, the Soviet state was not based on consensus, and some of its policies exacerbated rather than diminished differences between ethnic groups. Moreover, the absence of intellectual and political pluralism, and the inflexibility of Soviet political structures made it difficult for the Soviet leadership to reconcile differences between the centre and the union republics and between ethnic groups, and this rigidity contributed to the disintegration of the USSR.     

REGIONAL GROWTH IN THE SOVIET ECONOMY A MODEL AND ANALYSIS*

A multiregional econometric model of the Soviet economy is presented. It consists of 1,391 equations, with time-series information for 1965-1980. In conformity with the number of the country's republics, 15 input-output tables are incorporated. The discussion includes the methodological framework, the structure and equations, theoretical justification for the interaction between the econometric and input-output components, data and estimation, and forecasting results.     

The Influence of Ethnic Factors on the Territorial Redistribution of Population

Although a number of non-Russian republics of the Soviet Union (Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Moldavia) are labor-surplus areas, ethnic factors operate against migration of these national groups not only to labor-deficit regions in the RSFSR but even to cities of the non-Russian republics. Instead, Russians make up most of the migrants to labor-deficit regions (European North, Siberia, Far East, Kazakhstan) and to the cities of non-Russian republics. A system of measures in proposed to correct the situation.     

Sub-regionalism in the Newly Independent States

Since 1989, six new sub-regional cooperation groups have emerged as the states of northern, central and eastern Europe work towards forging relationships with one another and their neighbours to east and west. Five of these groups are still in existence and have had considerable success in establishing cooperative relations in many areas outside the realm of purely military security. The authors suggest that such sub-regional groups could provide a useful model in the search for stability among the Newly Independent states of the former Soviet Union. Acknowledging and describing the ways in which this environment differs markedly form that of northern, central and eastern Europe, they point out the suitability of the model to the particular circumstances of the post-Soviet republics.     

China Gazes West: Xinjiang's Growing Rendezvous with Central Asia

A senior American specialist on the geography of China surveys that country's enduring interest and involvement with the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, increasingly on the basis of Xinjiang's role as a bridgehead for economic linkages. Among the key features of this growing involvement reviewed in the paper are the establishment in 2001 of a regional security alliance (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) to combat Islamist extremism as well as separatist activities; growing commercial linkages (especially with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) in tandem with improved transport links and increasing crossborder movements of merchants, traders, and tourists; and China's growing need for oil and increasing reliance on Kazakhstan as a key source for petroleum. China's growing engagement with Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries is examined within the context of both opportunities as well as challenges, the latter reflecting the increasing complexity of Han Chinese and Uyghur/Turkic relations owing to increased Uyghur ties to affiliated populations in the Central Asian states.     

The Sources of Support for Separatism: Public Opinion in Three Soviet Republics

Abstract. The replacement of the Soviet Union by independent states rather than by a loose confederation of component republics reflects (in part) the demands for change that were being expressed by mass publics. What caused the people to reject decentralisation of authority within the existing state structure and chose rather to support movements that insisted on the establishment of independent states? We examine whether concerns about ‘discriminatory redistribution’ and ‘cultural preservation’ were more important than questions of ‘efficiency’ or ‘relative deprivation’ as motivations behind support for secession. The analysis is based upon public opinion data from Russia, Ukraine and Lithuania gathered in May of 1990 and in June of 1991. We conclude that although issues related to cultural preservation and discriminatory redistribution were foremost in the minds of separatists, concerns about efficiency and improved management in government are also relevant for understanding support for separatism.     

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).     

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.     

Changing security threat perceptions in Central Asia

This article discusses the current process of securitisation in Central Asia and identifies its convoluted and faulty nature as a factor impeding collective security action in the region. It uses the Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) as an explanatory tool and posits that security discourse in — and about — the five former Soviet republics is dominated by geopolitical grand strategy on the one hand and by particularist concerns about lack of democracy or transnational threats on the other. Issues of conventional security involving two or more states, such as territorial disputes or resource management, are pushed aside and rarely securitised at the official level. The article outlines conceptual and institutional reasons for this bias, and argues that unless inter-state tensions are properly analysed, debated and addressed, the prospects for security and stability in the region will remain grim.