Chimeras of the Past and Navigation through the Latest Development Conditions, Risks and Opportunities for Managing the Russian Arctic
Journal Title: Arctic and North - Year 2021, Vol 43, Issue 43
Abstract
The uniqueness of today's social processes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic determines the lack of insights into the transformation of the socio-economic space of the Russian Arctic. The purpose of this article is to review the past, recent, and future conditions for development and management of the Russian Arctic, considered in the context of the unfolding crisis of a non–economic nature and its consequences. The methodological peculiarity of the review is presentation of the phenomenon of the current crisis in the context of interrelated fundamental problems of the development of the Russian Arctic, the new economic reality, which makes it difficult to reliably predict the future. This naturally led to the substantiation of a series of contradictions and difficulties in implementing the declared development goals of the Russian Arctic, that are specifically reflected in the title of the article — "chimeras", which in biology means an organism consisting of genetically heterogeneous cells. A statistical description of the specifics of socio-economic development of the Arctic regions under the COVID-19 pandemic has been carried out in the context of review of the support measures, examination of the economic structure and the corresponding scale of "disconnection" of the regions' economies during the period of isolation and the subsequent recovery. It is revealed that the Arctic regions demonstrate greater economic resilience compared to the overall Russian situation, which is associated not so much with the strengthening of stabilization measures at the federal level with the support of the regional level, but with the fundamental reasons — the relative simplicity of the Arctic extractive economy, higher population incomes, low level of small and medium business development. Navigation on the risks and opportunities of governing the Russian Arctic has been carried out, linking the fundamentals and the practical implications of the study through the traditional rationale for navigating and considering the practice of managing an object, in our case, the Arctic, as well as routing, which is, choosing the path to follow. In particular, it makes a strong case that the pandemic has deepened the problems and risks that are also major management targets for the "precursor" period and creates a new hypothetical risk — the diminishing scale of the Arctic's social and economic development goals, including practices for securing conditions for increased standards of living and quality of life for its people.
Authors and Affiliations
Skufyina T. P. , Korchak E. A. , Baranov S. V.
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP695548
- DOI 10.37482/issn2221-2698.2021.43.45
- Views 123
- Downloads 0
Long-term Dynamics of Economic Development of the Russian Arctic
About a quarter of the world's natural gas and oil reserves are concentrated in the Arctic, which has led to increased interest of the world powers in this region in recent years. The Russian Federation has the greatest...
Military-Political Situation in the Arctic: Hotspots of Tension and Ways of De-Escalation
The article describes the politico-military situation in the Arctic, including the development of military capabilities of states in the region, the coastal infrastructure, the scales and the manner of military exercises...
Coordination of International Organizations of the North-Arctic Regions: to the Program of the Presidency of the Russian Federation in the Arctic Council
Mechanisms for coordinating the activities of international interstate and macro-regional organizations of the North-Arctic regions, the implementation of which may be directly related to the program of the Russian Feder...
Selection of HR-Strategy in the Location of the Transport-Technological System of Oil Fields in the Russian Arctic
The development of Arctic hydrocarbon resources is in the sphere of interests of many large companies. At the same time, the vast northern territories and polar seas do not have a developed infrastructure that would allo...
Wrangel Island as Actant in the Historical Geography of the Russian Arctic through a Mi’kmaw Lens
Wrangel Island is the largest island in the Russian Eastern Arctic and is now a protected place with international recognition. One of only five UNESCO world heritage sites in the Arctic, Wrangel Island is uniquely varie...