The Baltic Region

2015 Issue №3(25)

Russian Population Ethnic Structure: Trends and Transformations

Abstract

Based on the census data from 1989, 2002 and 2010, the article analyzes the evolution of the ethnic structure of the population of the post-Soviet Russia from the territorial perspective. The stability of the ethnic structure of the “Russian mega nucleus” and indigenization of the national regions are considered in view of the differences in migration trends during the two inter-census periods and the socioeconomic situation in the regions. The urbanization rate of major ethnic groups is an indirect indicator of the prospects of traditional “primordial” ethnic identities in different ethnic groups. Special attention is paid to new trends — an increase in the number of people refraining from answering the question about their ethnic identity or giving an unclear answer. Alongside serious census errors, this phenomenon can be a result of growing complexity of the ethnic identity structures and the processes of modernization, which occur at different rates in Russian and national regions. Based on the 2010 census data, the article analyses the differences in polyethnicity between the rural and urban population, which are accounted for by the historical background, particularities of regional development, settlement features, and migration processes of the past two decades.

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Key Directions of Sectoral and Spatial Changes in the Russian Industry

Abstract

This article considers major trends in the spatial and sectoral structure of national production and analyses the patterns of transformation of industrial systems into integrated industrial complexes, which show higher efficiency in transit condiétions. The author presents a new approach to studying the structural transformation of industrial systems during the transition of the national economy, which will make it possible to identify major trends in national production. The article seeks to draw attention to the methodology of developing and implementing industrial policy and devising an algorithm of effective transition of Russian industries in the modern conditions of international division of labor. The modernization and transnationalization of national production rests on a number of methods that make it possible for the corporate management to react rapidly to changes in the global market situation. These methods include strategic segmentation, analyzing the ability to adapt to the expected conditions, devising a company’s entrepreneurial strategy, and changes in the spatial and industrial structure of production. The transformation of national industry is associated with the introduction of mechanisms of industrial integration structures using single organizational production modules capable of rational combination and transformation of the elements of national production structure to create competitive transnational production associations, such as clusters and other production forms serving as ‘growth poles’ and becoming elements of the emerging framework for national production. This methodology makes it possible to develop new approaches, methods, and principles for analyzing the transformation of the national spatial and industrial system during economic transition. Current factors, features, patterns and trends in the transformation of national industrial systems are identified; a mechanism for devising and implementing a more structured industrial policy in Russia is developed

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