2020 Issue №2

The socio-economic development of countries and world regions during recent decades has been affected by the confrontation of global and regional centres of power, their growing geoeconomic and geopolitical rivalry, accom­panied by increasing geopolitical turbulence. The article aims to substantiate the concept of geopolitical turbulence in its socio-geographical projection. Spe­cial emphasis is made on its manifestations in the territorial organization of society and its structures. The author reveals the most relevant aspects of the territorial restructuring of the Russian economy, which is being influenced by recent geopolitical changes. The author assesses the economic resistance of Russia’s western border regions to geopolitical turbulence. Special attention is paid to the typology of border regions, which is built taking into account the impact of geopolitical turbulence and compensatory measures of state support on regional socio-economic systems. The study offers a general conceptual vi­sion of geopolitical turbulence as a permanent (poorly predictable and only partially regulated) series of changes in the global political order as a whole and in the position of a particular country and its spatial units — regions and large urban agglomerations. Such changes are obvious and significant for so­ciety; they are reflected in the public consciousness and embodied in scientific discourse.

The article evaluates the economic security of the Rostov region, a west­ern border region of Russia under the conditions of geoeconomic turbulence. Using complementary methods of the economic-statistical analysis of dynamic series and expert interviewing, the author describes multidimensional intra-regional processes triggered by external economic shifts. Empirical research shows a decrease in several economic indicators and the response of the re­gion's economy to external challenges. The Rostov region is capable of the mobilization of its productive forces while forming new market niches in the process of import substitution. The research shows that the Rostov region is relatively stable economically and has enough potential for progressive devel­opment. However, over the past 4 years, some negative trends have been ob­served. They were mainly caused by the deterioration of the regional business environment. A comparative analysis of the regional and all-Russia economic indicators, as well as the average indicators of Russia's western border re­gions and the Krasnodar Krai, reveals a growing competition between regions in the economically prosperous South-West of Russia. The study identified the main threats caused by both the geoeconomic situation and its projection onto the intra-regional environment. These threats aggravated system-wide eco­nomic problems.

The modern socio-economic model entails the intensification of rural – urban interaction. First of all, the process manifested itself in the growth of population flows, daily commuting between the village and the city. As a re­sult, the rural population expects a high-quality transport infrastructure and an efficiently functioning public transport network. Using sociological tools, the authors analyze the degree of satisfaction of the rural population from the eastern municipalities of the Kaliningrad region with a current public transport network and the quality of transport services provided. The findings led to the conclusion that the existing passenger management system satisfies most of the respondents. At the same time, according to the responses, the network asks for both infrastructural and systematic development, especially in the most ‘challenged’ municipalities of the Kaliningrad region. The Slavsky municipality is considered to be the most exposed nfrastructurally, while Gvardeysk experiences organizational difficulties.