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Russian borderlands: Contemporary problems and challenges
Author(s) -
Kolosov Vladimir,
Sebentsov Alexander
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
regional science policy and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.342
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1757-7802
DOI - 10.1111/rsp3.12285
Subject(s) - geopolitics , cross border cooperation , economic geography , geography , human settlement , politics , political science , population , economy , regional science , sociology , economics , demography , archaeology , law
Russia has the largest number of neighbours in the world, with 16 different countries distributed along its more than 20,000 km land border. The diversity of situations in border regions offers an opportunity to study and to compare the influence of historical, cultural and geopolitical factors on the economic development of border regions, everyday life of population and interactions with the neighbours. The paper summarizes the results of recent projects devoted to Russian borderlands. It is based on the concept of bordering and a study of social practices. All Russian borders are analysed as a single system. The authors consider the impact of the 2014 crisis in Ukraine and the following geopolitical events on cross‐border interactions of Russian border regions and analyse the effects of border location on the development of Russian regions. A special attention is paid to the combined influence on bordering of both “hard,” “material” (the demographic situation, the territorial pattern of settlements and economy, etc.) and “soft” factors (the role of a border in territorial identities, political discourses and the perception of a neighbouring country, etc.). The fragmentation of the border space and the increasing asymmetry of socio‐economic indicators and cross‐border interactions between neighbouring territories are shown.