Power and the People - The State and Peripheral Communities in the Russian Far North

This book discusses state-periphery relations from the view-point of a reindeer husbandry community in the Russian Far North (Murmansk Region). The time is the current period of Putin-led Russia. The analysis is based on the premise that the mode of current top-power governance can be described as selective de-centralization. Below a certain level of state power interests, conflicts get resolved in favour of local communities. That gains support for the supreme leadership, and reproduces a Soviet-like reality. Termed sovkhoism, the latter holds the Soviet state-farm (sovkhoz) as creating an ideal socio-economic environment. When issues are of significant interest to superior power, selection favours cavalier bypassing of people-friendly concerns. At this level, power acts in an authoritarian mode, favouring the interests of state power structures in conjunction with the upper tiers of the loyal oligarchate. It is shown how this governing mode contains significant potential for escalating centre vs. periphery tensions.



Yulian Konstantinov is Chair of Bulgarian Society for Regional Cultural Studies, NGO, Sofia, Bulgaria.