Vol 6, No 3 (2016)

The article deals with the problem of assessing economic diversification at the level of individual federal subjects. Diversification is one of the strategic goals for development of Siberia. Assessing the progress in furthering this goal requires its consideration at the level of measurable indicators. In world practice, measurement and evaluation of the level of diversification of the regional economy are based on a variety of indicators reflecting individual characteristics of diversification processes. This paper presents a comparative analysis of diversification in subjects of the Siberian Federal District over the period of 2008–2013. In assessing diversification, we used the Herfindahl–Hirschman indices (gross value added and number of employees by economic activity, the structure of shipped products in manufacturing, the export commodity structure) and the proportion of manufacturing, share of single-industry towns resident in the regional population, and the number of small businesses (enterprises) per 10000 people. Discrepancies in the estimates of various indicators and contradictory trends are shown in the development of diversification processes in individual subjects of the Siberian Federal District. Correlation analysis showed no strong relationship between diversification and the growth rate of the regional economy or the existence of a strong link between economic diversification and its stability. The regions are grouped according to the level of their stability.

The main purpose of reindustrialization of modern Russia should be to raise the level of national manufacturing to that in highly developed industrial countries. It is very important to mobilize regional growth points of reindustrialization processes, and Novosibirsk oblast can act as one of the priority Russian pilot regions for reindustrialization via the implementation of a special management program. This article considers the ideology and basic directions of development of the Program for Reindustrialization of the Novosibirsk Oblast Economy for the Period up to 2025 and reveals the reindustrialization potential, which is one of the highest in the country due to the powerful system of institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the recently developed system of development institutions (technoparks, industrial zones, etc.). The development principles of the program are formulated, and the mechanisms and institutional conditions of reindustrialization are shown. Using eight megaprojects as examples, we present strategic initiatives that reflect the most important competitive scientific and innovative, engineering, and manufacturing advantages of Novosibirsk oblast and its unique competencies in several directions of innovation. It is shown that the Program for Reindustrialization of the Novosibirsk Oblast Economy is a modern element of the strategic planning system for regional development.

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.

The aim of the article is to verify the opinions of classic Russian geographers on the geographical positions of capital cities and the commonality of their historical destiny. The remoteness of 178 official and 45 alternative capitals from the outer contours of their countries has been measured. Their relation to the “reduced radius” (RR) of national territories has been calculated. The distributions of indicators and their dependence on the closest border, either terrestrial or maritime, have been analyzed. The results are shown on maps. The remoteness proved quite small on average (70 km, or 20% of the RR), especially the remoteness of informal capitals gravitating to the sea (20 km, or 6% of the RR). Particular cases of the closeness of capitals to borders are considered. A number of examples demonstrate that the areas of the historical migration of capitals are more often than not triangular in form and also small compared to modern countries. The migration of Russian capital cities is highlighted in the greatest detail. The thesis about the commonality of the destinies of capitals and countries with their borders, just like the thesis about the gravitation of capital cities to the interiors of countries, is only partially true. They are interrelated but not identical. At the same time, capital city and border are key, mutually complementary, and even somewhat similar spatial attributes of the state.

This paper explores the public perceptions about border segments of Russia with Abkhazia and South Ossetia based on an analysis of the related discourse generated by Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The study is based on a set of publications collected as part of continuous analysis of the newspaper’s content within three periods: 1994–1995, 2000–2003, and 2008–2012. The unclear legal status of the disputed border segments underpins the multitude of approaches to how the borders are perceived. Four basic images of the borders are identified, corresponding to the four scale levels of discourse: the border of Russia and Abkhazia/South Ossetia, the border of Russia and Georgia, the border of Russia and the West, and the border between the North and South Caucasus. Different levels of discourse can reflect different opinions about the conflict (Russian, Georgian, and Abkhazian/South Ossetian viewpoints). These levels also differ in terms of the spatial perception of the border (line or zone), etc. Each segment of the discourse is dominated by a set of key motifs. Some motifs have a “vertical” (cross-cutting) nature: in modified form, these motifs shape the discourse at each level (integration of Russia and South Ossetia; Russia’s annexation of South Ossetia; Russia’s rivalry with the West over influence in the South Caucasus; providing the unity of the Caucasus region). This ensures the interrelation of images, as well as the unity and structuredness of the analyzed discourse.

The five-year stage of municipal strategizing in Russia from 2010 to 2014 is reviewed by the author’s method of formalized description of the content of municipal strategies, which makes it possible to identify the general direction of a strategy and describe specific semantic units. Forty strategic planning documents of Russian cities with populations of over 100000 people have been investigated. A significant diversity of forms and approaches to planning is revealed. Comparison with strategies of earlier stages has shown a tendency toward strengthening qualities recognized as good strategy attributes by the consensus of the expert community, i.e., the ambitiousness and number of strategies with high attention to implementation issues have significantly increased. Wording of urban strategy objectives are analyzed, which are very similar in nature and are most often associated with economic development or improvement in quality of life. An attempt to compare strategies by quantitative target values has failed because of differences in the sets of indicators and deadlines. It has been possible to identify and compare the values of only one indicator (investments in fixed assets from all sources of financing), which is very varied.

This article considers a general algorithm and elements of damage assessment from natural disasters at the macroeconomic level in a case study analyzing the direct economic consequences of a catastrophic flood in the Russian Far East in autumn 2013. Based on the data collected by the author from various sources and original calculations, estimates are provided for the direct economic damage to different sectors of the regional economy and the regional economy as a whole. It is shown that the flood caused the largest damage to buildings, people’s belongings, and the transport infrastructure. The total direct damage caused by this natural disaster amounts to 0.14% of the country’s GDP. The results obtained from calculations are compared with damage assessments made by alternative calculation methods and with the scale of damage caused by the most destructive floods in world history. Finally, the author provides rough estimates of the direct and indirect economic damage caused by this flood.