Russia’s Arctic frontier: Paradoxes of development

Abstract

The paper demonstrates the contradictions and paradoxes of Russia’s Transpolar territories, related to transformation of the Arctic from a global periphery to a global frontier. The first paradox is the strong contrasts between the poles of poverty and wealth in light of the fact that Russia is the absolute champion of GRP produced in the Arctic. Other paradoxes are as follows. The Arctic imports a large amount of fuel and lubricant materials while simultaneously exporting energy carriers from the region; while it has been acknowledged that it is necessary to create new forms of regional management, this priority is not reflected in any way in specific grant policies of the main scientific foundations; the Arctic is the largest resource region, but efforts on an innovation search to manage natural resource use are minimal and there is not even a textbook on resource economics; in its Asiatic part, Russia’s Arctic zone is becoming a pioneer in onshore and shelf exploration, but it has almost no near-coastal cities prepared and equipped to carry out the functions of outpost bases. Lists of Arctic land territories from federal regulatory legal acts demonstrate multiple incongruities and inconsistencies. In the world, the Arctic territories have become a testing ground for innovations in state and municipal administration, regulation of resource management based on principles of polycentric administration and ecosystem management, coadministration, etc. This actively includes factors of tacit knowledge of indigenous peoples, long-term residents, and experts. Although Russia has the most extensive Arctic territory, its efforts in this plan are minimal. In the short term, the main problem in developing the Arctic will be to provide social support to large and small subjects of the Arctic economy. This will require joint actions on the part of authorities at various levels and the local community, as well as the responsible behavior of corporations.