scholarly journals On the Evolution of Hierarchical Urban Systems in Soviet Russia, 1897–1989

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 11389
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Kumo ◽  
Elena Shadrina
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Soviet Russia

One piece of evidence of the inefficiency of the spatial economy of modern Russia presented in the seminal work of Hill and Gaddy (2004) is that Russian urban agglomerations are non-viable. This was demonstrated using Zipf’s rank-size distribution, which does not hold for Russian urban systems. Hill and Gaddy explained this through the legacy of the Soviet command-administrative planning. Having constructed an original dataset, which incorporated comprehensive historical data for all the cities in the former Soviet Union republics and tested the rank-size distributions for the respective years, the study yielded more nuanced findings. First, unlike the modern Russian hierarchical urban systems, the Soviet ones followed rank-size distribution fairly well. Second, the Soviet urban systems were evolving. In the late Imperial era and early Soviet period, they followed the Zipf’s law prediction. However, between 1939 and 1959, the rank-size distribution diverged from the predicted one. Yet again, the Soviet hierarchical urban systems revealed a trend of convergence toward the traditional rank-size distribution in the late Soviet era. A corollary to such evidence from data trajectory appears that the evolution of the Soviet hierarchical urban systems was not necessarily the ultimate product of the urban development policies of the command-administrative system. It can be thus presumed that, contrary to the established belief, command administrative urban development might be ineffectual even in centrally planned socialist economies.

Urban Administration in Post-Soviet Russia: Continuity and Change in St Petersburg

1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
City Government ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The City

In this paper institutional change in the former Soviet Union will be explored by focusing on local government politics and administration. The political turmoil in local government is examined as efforts are made to capture the ‘residual legitimacy’ of the Communist Party and to replace the latent functions of the Party in coordinating the complex structure of local government. It is demonstrated that the complex centralized structure of Soviet local government still exists. It is argued that the conflict between the mayor and the city soviet has at least partly been a turf battle over whether the mayor or the city soviet will assume functions previously performed by units of the Communist Party; that, although on the surface the administrative system has been significantly altered, some units are little changed from the Soviet period; and that policy responsibilities of city government are being shaped as they assume by default residual responsibilities from the republic government and as the effects of privatization are felt.

scholarly journals Between Berlin and Moscow: Polish Western Thought in the Twenty-Year Interwar Period

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Masnyk
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
Academic Publications ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Culture ◽  
The Russian Empire

This article deals with the professional discussion about the so-called “difficult questions” of Russian history that involves historians and teachers in the now independent republics of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Block. Both academic publications and teaching books are used as primary sources for the study. In the first section, the author studies several problems connected with the origin of Russian statehood, the Varangian question, and civilizational characteristics of East Slavic nations. The second section is devoted to the Russian imperial past and especially to the discourse on colonialism, which is often used as an explanatory model for the imperial period by historians and textbook authors in some of the post-Soviet countries. The third section is concerned with the conception of the 1917 revolution. The author emphasizes the fact that the conception of a continuous revolutionary process (1917–1922) has yet to be accepted by Russian secondary schools. In this part, the author considers several other factors significant for understanding the revolutionary process including issues such as the origins of the First World War and the developmental level of the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century. In the fourth section, the article discusses the conception of the 1930s Soviet modernization along with negative opinions about the Soviet period given by scholars of different former Soviet republics. In the fifth section, the author briefly observes contemporary studies of culture and everyday life. It is concluded that the history of culture is not represented well in Russian school textbooks, and it is also found that the studies on everyday life are often lacking in depth. Discussing various “difficult questions” of Russian history, the author highlights controversial historical ideas and opinions, formulated in the post-Soviet countries during the last decades.

scholarly journals Problems of spatial planning, zoning and urban development in modern Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 03050
Author(s):  
Sergei Mezentsev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Territorial Planning ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Negative Phenomena ◽  
Made In

The purpose of this article is a comprehensive review of spatial and urban planning, and zoning in modern Russia. The starting point of the study is the experience of territorial, urban planning and zoning of the Soviet Union, which has achieved significant success in this area of activity. To achieve this goal, we used the books of modern Russian researchers and the author’s publications of this article, as well as materials posted on the Internet, applied philosophical and scientific approaches and research methods: systemic, dialectic, socio-humanitarian, anthropological, environmental, aesthetic and cybernetic approaches, as well as methods of observation, analysis, synthesis, analogy, comparison, generalization. As a result of the study, many negative phenomena and mistakes made in the territorial planning, zoning and urban development of post-Soviet Russia were revealed: the system was lost, the laws of dialectics are violated, there is no synergy between state structures and civil society, there is an excessive concentration of the population in Moscow and the Moscow region, it isn’t possible to provide comfortable and safe living conditions for each person and, the most importantly, environmental problems in cities and neighboring territories become more acute.

scholarly journals The Transformation of Economic Development in the Border Regions of Russia and Kazakhstan in the Post-Soviet Period

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-141
Author(s):  
Alexander Burnasov ◽  
Ilyushkina Maria ◽  
Yury Kovalev ◽  
Anatoly Stepanov ◽  
Gulnara Nyussupova
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Industrial Complexes ◽  
Territorial Structure

The prospects and trends for the development of border regions of the former Soviet Union have become one of the profound research areas in the field of economic geography recently. In the conditions of planned economy in the Republics of the USSR, a vertical system of industrial complexes was formed, with the focus on performing national economic tasks. There have been some significant changes in the border regions of independent post-Soviet States in the process of transition to the market economy model. The analysis of the industrial and territorial structure is done on the example of Russia and Kazakhstan. The formation of a common market on the basis of the Eurasian Economic Union allowed the border regions to make the most of their competitive advantage in attracting investments. The unique geographical particularity of the research object is manifested in the fact that there are no analogues of the longest land border in the world as between Russia and Kazakhstan. The new forms of production organisation are implemented in the border regions of the studied countries over more than 7,000 km. More than a quarter of a century later, transformation processes are clearly observed in the mining and manufacturing industries, agriculture, transport and services. As a result, the “regional asymmetry” of industrial development can be observed when manufacturing regions with high added value become the “cores” of economic development of cross-border relations between Russia and Kazakhstan.

Kyiv

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Betlii
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Independent Research ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Time Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Near Future

Urban studies is still an undeveloped field in Ukraine, partly as a result of a lack of field institutionalization at Ukrainian universities. On the other hand, only in the early 21st century, urban challenges became a subject of interest of urban activists who started raising questions regarding strategic developments of Ukrainian cities. Thanks to that, the urban agenda has become visible and discussible on some independent research institutions or media platforms. Scholarship on Kyiv is a good illustration of this situation. There are not that many scholarly works dedicated exclusively to Kyiv. Ukrainian historians quite often address Kyiv issues in their research on a more general Ukrainian context. Western historians, focusing on the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union, mention Kyiv in their work but rarely choose this city as a main subject of examination. This article will introduce the reader to themes examined by scholars who have studied the history or current development of Kyiv. The majority of these studies are written in Ukrainian and have never been translated into English. Considering the emerging status of Kyiv studies, this article attempts to strike a balance between being inclusive and, at the same time, selective. A number of the sources cited here are the only existing examinations of a certain topic. Most of the citations refer to books, with just a handful of articles listed in this article. Papers written by Ukrainian historians are typically very short and do not analyze their topics deeply enough to be mentioned in a citation. Western scholars usually finalize their research in book-length publications, and their research on Kyiv is cited in this article. This article is divided into several topical sections, within which citations are organized chronologically, covering the time period from the medieval history of Kyiv to the present day. This article demonstrates that the late imperial history of Kyiv has been researched the best. There will likely be even more scholarship on this period due to the fact that Kyiv archives are rich and open to researchers, and their records have even been published online. In contrast, the Soviet period is barely touched by urban scholars. It is still uncertain to what degree the current challenges of Kyiv’s development will be reflected in scholarship in the near future. In order to get any further updates on the topic, one might consult the publisher Varto, which specializes in Kyiv literature.

Historical and textual research and essence analysis of the evolution of Lenin’s “German Spy” case

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (02) ◽  
pp. 32-49
Author(s):  
Li Yan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
New Materials ◽  
German Government ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Media ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Textual Research

The rumors that Lenin was a “German spy” first appeared in Petrograd after the February revolution in Russia. During the Soviet period, the “Sisson documents” (papers) were fabricated in the United States and other Western countries, and other evidence was sought that Lenin was allegedly an “agent” of the German government. However, all the evidence presented were convincingly refuted. V. I. Lenin’s “German spy” case was discussed again during the collapse of the Soviet Union and in post-Soviet Russia. In some Russian media, political and academic circles, this “case” was reproduced in various forms, but new materials and new evidences were not found.

A Belated and Tragic Ecological Revolution: Nature, Disasters, and Green Activists in the Soviet Union and the Post-Soviet States, 1960s-2010s

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Coumel ◽  
Marc Elie
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The 1960S

In the late Soviet period, environmental issues gained an unprecedented media resonance and dramatic socio-political importance. The “Ecological Revolution” took a tragic turn in the Soviet Union, against the background of high-impact industrial and natural disasters. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (Ukraine, 1986) and in a context of increased free-speech, Soviet citizens seized on new and old, covered up or forgotten environmental issues and demanded that a hesitant government put them on the political agenda. In a mixture of media revelations, mass demonstrations, and intense voluntary-sector activity, environmental issues of local, national and global significance ranked high among the main preoccupations of the Soviet population. In this introduction to a special issue of SPSR on the environmental history of the late Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, we explore new avenues of understanding the upsurge of ecological perestroika from the 1960s to the 2010s.

scholarly journals Soviet, post-Soviet and neo-liberal: Governing Russian schools through quality assurance and evaluation

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galina Gurova
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Soviet Russia

This paper problematizes the dichotomy between neo-liberalism and socialism and the tendency to view the post-socialist condition as a process of convergence with ‘Western’ and ‘global’. It does so by analysing the development and implementation of a quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) policy in school education in the context of the Russian Federation. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russian national QAE policy has changed greatly and currently resembles the agendas of transnational organizations in education. At the same time, the national policy and the political discourse on quality continue to draw on Soviet as well as post-Soviet legacies. Juxtaposing the case of Russian QAE policy with theoretical models of post-bureaucratic governance in education, the paper also questions clear-cut distinctions between ‘old’ and ‘new’ governance regimes. The analysis in the paper is guided by two questions: 1) What has changed and what has remained unchanged in Russian education policy with the transition from the Soviet period to current state? and 2) How do different legacies and influences contribute to the QAE policy implemented at the local level? The brief inquiry into the history of Russian QAE policy focuses on three periods: post-war Soviet Russia, the transition period of the 1980–1990s and modern Russia. Recognizing the specific characteristics of each of the reviewed periods, the paper highlights complexities, contradictions and continuities within and between previous and present regimes of education governance in Russia. The analysis of the QAE policy implemented at the local level demonstrates the blending of diverse legacies, and the prevalence of Soviet-era practices in school governance.

China’s development policies and city size distribution: An analysis based on Zipf’s law

Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 2818-2834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Fang ◽  
Peng Li ◽  
Shunfeng Song
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Large City ◽  
Urban System ◽  
City Size ◽  
City Development ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
City Size Distribution

Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, China’s urban development policies have experienced dramatic changes, from anti-urbanisation before 1978, to anti-large-city-development during 1978–1999 and coordinated urbanisation in 2000–2012. Using city-level data from 1949 to 2012, this paper examines China’s development policies and city size distribution. Evidenced by the Zipf coefficient, we found that China’s city sizes became more evenly distributed before 2000, and this pattern was reversed after 2000. These findings suggest that China’s urban system is strongly affected by its shifting urban development strategies.

National Awakening and National Consciousness in Belarus

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 565-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Marples
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
National Development ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
The Republic ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Culture And Language

A frequent assertion about the recent events and pervasive mood in Belarus—the apparent efforts to reunite with Russia, the virtual denial of a Belarusian identity by a Russophone president, official nostalgia for the time of the former Soviet Union— is that national consciousness is somehow retarded or delayed, and national development is lagging considerably behind that of its neighboring states, Lithuania and Ukraine. This article seeks to address the question of national self-awareness in Belarus from three angles: those of demography, culture, and language. Was development of the republic in the Soviet period different from that of the other republics, and is that development responsible for what has been described as the “national nihilism” of today? Is that mood likely to change with a new generation of Belarusians? How far is President Alyaksander Lukashenka, the first president of Belarus, who was elected in July 1994, responsible for the present situation and how far is he a symptom of the notable lack of self-assertion of Belarusians?

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