CENTRALISM vs. REGIONALISM
in RUSSIA
Andrei Treivish
CENTRALISM: PREREQUISITES
PRO et CONTRA
• Byzantine, Holden Horde and other Asiatic
impacts
• Deep historical tradition conditioned by frequent
wars, revolts and expansion
• Ethnically / culturally melting colonization process
• Huge landmass, long distances and hampered
communications
• Ethnic and regional diversity + 90 years of
federalism
• Recurrent crises of central power
SUMMING UP DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS AND
INTERPRETATIONS OF REGIONALISM
A TRIAD:
• of regional (provincial) self-consciousness and
identity, local spirit and divotion to this level of
'patriotism' and tradition etc.
• of their realization in regional public activities
(movements and institutions), more or less radical
and successful
• of their recognition along with the needs and
interests of regional development as a rightful and
legal form of civil society; attention of state
policies to them
CENTRALISM
and
MONOCENTRISM
of settlement systems
All-Russia's rank-size ratios
Historical Russian
Empire,
Size USSR
(population)and
in 1,000
RF
10000
Moscow
10000
Moscow
Moscow
Leningrad
Kiev
Tashkent
Minsk
St.P-g
Novosibirsk
1000
N.Novg.
Moscow
Warsa
w Odessa
Lodz
Russian Federation in
its contemporary
limits
50 largest cities
USSR 1989
Leningrad – St.P-g
Moscow Leningrad
St.P-g
1000 Moscow
Novosibirsk
St.P-g
Togliatti
2002 1989
N.Novgorod
Moscow
RF 1989
1959
on
100 Rostov
Don
Saratov
100
Russian
Empire
1897
1926
1897
10
1867
10
1
10
Size in 100000
1,000
Mumbai;
N.Y.Los Angeles
Rio de Janeiro
Philadelphia
Sao Paulo
Chicago-Milwaukee
Kolkata
Dilli
Shanghai
Hong Kong
10000 Beijing
USA
Moscow
St.Peter.
Belo Horizonte
100
INDIA
1000
RUSSIA
BRAZIL
100
1
Ранг ГА (1-30)
10
City rank (1-50)
10
30 largest urban
agglomerations of four
giant countries in the
early 21st century
CHINA
Samara-Togliatti
1
100
100
CENTRALISM IN REGIONAL URBAN SYSTEMS
RATIO OF THE REGIONAL CAPITAL'S
POPULATION TO THE LARGEST ONE AMONG
OTHER CITIES, 2008
Official regional
centre (capital)
The second
(largest) city
sole city in 0.003 0.5
1
2
the region
the capital
smalle
larger
is
r
3
5
10
55 times
BASIC TYPES OF RUSSIA'S 'REGIONIMS'
Names of regions (near 2005) and of their centres (capitals)
V.: Vladimir; R.: Ryazan; L.: Lipetsk; T.: Tambov; N.N.: Nizhniy Novgorod; Y-O.:
Yoshkar-Ola; Ch.: Cheboksary; S: Saransk; U.: Ulyanovsk; Cher.: Cherkessk;
VK.: Vladikavkaz
Anadyr
Murmansk
Petrozavodsk
Kaliningrad
St. Petersburg
Arkhangelsk
Pskov
Moscow
Vladimir
Novgorod
Tver
Vologda
Naryan-Mar
Palana
Dudinka
Smolensk
Yar.
Kaluga
Syktyvkar
Kostroma
Bryansk
Magadan
Yakutsk
Ivanovo
Orel
Salekhard
N.N.
Kirov
Tula
Kursk
Kudymkar
PetropavlovskY-O.
R. S.
L.
Khanty-Mansiysk
Kamchatskiy
Belgorod
Izhevsk
T.
Ch.
Perm
Voronezh
U.
Penza
Rostov on Don
Tura
Kazan
Yekaterinburg
Volgograd
Tyumen
Krasnodar
Saratov
Ufa
Maykop
Samara
Elista
Cher. Stavropol
Tomsk
Orenburg
Kurgan
Nalchik
Omsk
Astrakhan
Krasnoyarsk
VK.
Khabarovsk
Groznyy
Blagoveshchensk
Magas
Novosibirsk
YuzhnoChelyabinsk
Makhachkala
Sakhalinsk
Abakan
Chita
Barnaul
Birobidjan
Kyzyl
classified by etymology of the latter:
Ulan-Ude
Aginskoye
GornoAltaysk
Irkutsk
Urban proper (town or fortress, etc.)
Ust-Ordynskoye
Vladivostok
SAME AS THE CENTRE'S NAME
Ethnic (tribal)
Religious
Personal human
Natural geographic (hydronim etc.)
Other, combined or uncertain
DIFFERENT FROM THE CENTRE'S NAME
Ethnic
Abrogated by 2008 – joint with
the larger 'maternal' region
Natural geographic
Combined natural-ethnic and abrogated
(Taymyr Dolgano-Nenets AO)
Personal human, different from that
of the centre
TIME SPENT IN THE STATE HEADED BY
MOSCOW OR ST. PETERSBURG
'LENGTH OF SERVICE'
in average upon contemporary regions'
areas
Years (up to 2000)
50 150 250 350 450 550
FAR EAST
0
FAR EAST
E.SIBERIA
W.SIBERIA
URALS
N.CAUCASUS
VOLGA
. CHERNOZEM
V.-VYATKA
CENTRE
N-WEST
300
NORTH
1996
Ka
l in
in
gr
ad
NO obl.
Kaliningrad
RT
H
N.
-W
NORTH
ES
VO
T
CE
L G N-WEST
NT
O
E
-V
R
C.
YA
CH CENTRE
TK
ER
A
N
OZ
VOLGA-VYATKA
EM
VO
N.
C. CHERNOZEM
LG
CA
A
UC
AS
VOLGA
US
W
ES UR
N.CAUCASUS
AL
T
S
EA SIB
E
ST URALS
RI
A
SI
BE
R
W.SIBERIA
FA
IA
R
EA
E.SIBERIA
ST
FAR EAST
E.SIBERIA
W.SIBERIA
URALS
N.CAUCASUS
VOLGA
Macroregions and 'independent' regions
Regions within macroregions
Kaliningrad obl
FAR EAST
E.SIBERIA
W.SIBERIA
URALS
N.CAUCASUS
VOLGA
C. CHERNOZEM
VOLGA-VYATKA
CENTRE
N-WEST
NORTH
Kaliningrad obl.
1990
. CHERNOZEM
V.-VYATKA
CENTRE
N-WEST
NORTH
Kaliningrad obl
Regional disparities in per capita net material (by Soviet methodology) and
gross regional products (new methodology), current
prices, RF = 100
Net Material Product:
NET MATERIAL PRODUCT (11 MACRO-REGIONS and 73 REGIONS)
11 macroregions, 73 regions, RF=100
350
350
1996
1996
250
200
150
100
50
GRP (11 MACRO-REGIONS and 79 REGIONS)
2002
Per capita GRP by region and macro-region of selected giant states in the mid2000s, percentages of each national average
2005
350
RUSSIA: 11 macro-regions, 79 regions
300
400
50
350
0
0
300
ЦЕНТР-ЮГ
С.-ЗАПАД
С.-ВОСТОК
INDIA: 7 macro-regions, 35 regions
350
Д.ВОСТОК
В.СИБИРЬ
З.СИБИРЬ
УРАЛ
С.КАВКАЗ
ПОВОЛЖЬЕ
Калинингр. Обл
0
100
Андам.о-ва
0
150
Macroregions and 'independent' regions
Regions within macroregions
ЮГ
50
ЗАПАД
50
ЦЕНТР
100
С.-ВОСТОК
100
200
0
ВОСТОК
150
Ю.ВОСТОК
150
ЮГ
200
С.-ВОСТОК
200
ЦЕНТРО-З.
250
СЕВЕР
250
250
50
2004
300
С.-ЗАПАД
2005
300
СЕВЕР
350
2005
ЦЧР
СВ ЦЕНТР
СЗ ЦЕНТР
Гавайи
BRAZIL: 5 macroregions, 27 regions
ВОСТОК
100
50
Ю.-ЗАПАД
100
СЕВЕР
450
Н.АНГЛИЯ
150
СР.-АТЛ.
150
Ю.-АТЛ.
500
ЮВ ЦЕНТР
200
ЮЗ ЦЕНТР
200
ГОРНЫЕ
550
ТИХООК.
250
Аляска
250
В.-ВЯТСКИЙ
300
ЦЕНТР
2006
С.-ЗАПАД
350
400
СЕВЕР
USA: 9 macro-regions, 51 region
CHINA: 6 macro-regions, 31 region
Dispersion of percapita GRPs (number of regions): USA (51) – 38,4;
EU – 42–50 (over 100); MEXICO (32) – 53; BRAZIL (27) – 57; INDIA (35) – 66;
CHINA (31) – 71; RF (79) – 67; РФ (88, АО included) – 133
Basic types of GRP sectoral structures in 1998 and 2004
1998
TYPES
H-A
H-I
I-S
H-S
No data
2004
EXPLANATIONS:
H-A – hyper-agrarian,
A-S – agrarian-service,
H-I – hyper-industrial,
I – predominantly industrial,
I-S – industrial-service,
S – service,
H-S – hyper-service
A-S
I
S
THE AUTHOR'S POSITION
Regionalism and regionalization (booming
regionalism in the 1990s Russian sense)
are antonyms of CENTRALISM AND
CENTRALIZATION (of monotony and
unification etc.),
but not yet synonymous with SEPARATISM
AND DISINTEGRATION
Regionalism can grow into separatism as a result of
a long suppression and disregard (especially in
times of troubles)
POLAR VIEWS OF RUSSIAN REGIONALISM
• It is extremely weak as well as Russia's historical
provinces and unofficial vernacular regions. The
very Russian culture and, thus, identity are aspatial
(relatively indifferent to space in a huge flat and
expanding country).
• It does exist but really is special in a centralised
state which either incorporates it into its own
regional system, or leaves "beyond the power".
Russian regions and regionalism belongs to a polisshaped type and often "secret" (at the local levels in
particular).
Some regularities of administrative division
and of Russia's regional system
Area of basic units as function of population density by the 21st century:
Worldwide
Average
regions'
area,км
km²
Ср.
площадь
единиц,
?
1000000
and
тыс.
км ? area,
Region's
WORLD: STATES AND
РФ:
Аз.East
часть
RF:
АО)
RF:РФ-78
78 (AO(без
excluded)
100000
1000 km²
10000
РФ: West
Евр. часть
RF:
RUSSIA: 87 REGIONS
РОССИЯ-87
АМЕРИКА
AMERICAS
РФ-89
RF: 89
Russia's
1000
АФРИКА
AFRICA
АЗИЯ
ASIA
100
ЕВРОПА
EUROPE
10000
10
-0,8078
y = 842512x
1
2
R = 0,5137
0.0
1000
1
10
100
1000
0/1
1,0
10,0
чел. / км ?
Population density
per 1 km²
100,0
1000.0
Ср. плотность
населения,
Average
population
densityчел.
per 1/ км?
km²
2 PARTS (European and Asian)
A sheme of Russia's
regional 'stairs'
7 – 13 MACRO-REGIONS
50 – 90 MAIN ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS
300 – 400 UYEZD (INTRA-OBLAST REGIONS)
2,000 – 3,000 LOCAL REGIONS and INDEPENDENT CITIES
'PENDULUM' OF RUSSIA'S REGIONALIZATION –
CENTRALIZATION: AN AUTHOR'S SCHEME
Collapse of Russaian
Empire, Civil war
Collapse of the USSR
disintegration
SEPERATISM
Great Gosplan
oblasts
REGIONALISM
Sovnarkhoz
REGIONALISM
HYPER-CENTRALISM
1915 1925 1935 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995
The last group of questions:
INTEGRATION OR CENTRALIZATION?
1. The reasons for a new centralization:
mostly economic or political?
2. What is more probable and preferable,
tactically and strategically?
If the pendulum of centralism –
regionalism does swing anyway, it
would better quicker and lesser in
amplitude,
but how can Russia ajust it?