Irina Vladimirovna Trotsuk

The Russian Variant of Food Security

Russia’s political leaders have a different understanding of food security than traditional usage. The traditional usage of the term food security refers to access, availability, and nutritional aspects of food. According to the conventional application of food security, the vast majority of the Russian population is not food insecure by traditional measures. The Russian variant of food security connects food trade to national security. The Russian political leadership argues that Russia is food insecure based on food imports. Survey data are used to assess support for the government’s food security policy, and to analyze the impact of the self-imposed food embargo on Russian consumers.

Russia’s tilt to Asia and implications for agriculture in the Far East

As part of Russia’s strategic tilt to Asia, Russian policymakers hope to increase food exports to the Asia-Pacific region. This article analyzes prospects for increasing Russia’s penetration of Asian food markets by surveying initiatives to increase local food production in the Far East and efforts to attract investment into agriculture. Obstacles to increased market penetration are examined, including contradictory policy goals.

Pitirim Sorokin’s contribution to rural sociology: Russian, European and American milestones of a scientific career

ABSTRACT The whole of Pitirim Sorokin’s fascinating and difficult scientific life led to his fundamental works on urban–rural relationships being expressed in the terms ‘rural–urban continuum’ and ‘rurbanism’. However, only a few special studies have been devoted to different aspects of his biography and scientific interests. The legacy of Sorokin as a rural sociologist has not yet become a subject of special studies in Russian social science. This contribution considers the key stages of Sorokin’s scientific career as contributing to the development and institutionalization of rural sociology as a discipline closely connected with urban sociology.

The importance of strong regional leadership in Russia: the Belgorod Miracle in agriculture

Abstract Belgorod oblast is a highly successful region in Russia. The economic successes in Belgorod stem from the dynamic leadership is provided by Yevgeny Savchenko for the past 24 years. Savchenko supports agroholdings and industrial agriculture, while also adopting policies that foster the growth of small-forms of farming and organic farming. Savchenko’s agrarian policies have led to the so-called Belgorod Miracle. The Belgorod experience shows that despite a decline in gubernatorial power vis-à-vis the federal center, governors have vast powers within their regions. Personality and leadership characteristics are important variables that impact the performance of a region.

Utopian visions of contemporary rural-urban Russia

Abstract Rural Russia is undergoing changes in its agrarian economy and in its social and economic structure more generally in ways that differ greatly across the country’s numerous regions. This is due to both internal transformations of the last decades of post-Soviet transition and external causes related to processes of globalisation. The most visible of these changes is the growing concentration of large-scale agribusiness landholdings. This concentration is transforming rural–urban linkages, intensifying rural–urban migration and leading to the disappearance of smallholders, family farmers and even entire rural settlements. This paper considers key aspects of contemporary reciprocity between rural and urban Russia through the analytical lens of the utopian models of rural development proposed by Russian economist and sociologist A.V. Chayanov in the early twentieth century. We argue that Chayanov’s models of social development provide an optimal conceptual frame within which to understand the contemporary contradictions between town and village, industry and agriculture, the peasantry and the capitalist state.

Gender Inequality in Russia's Rural Formal Economy

Gender inequality in Russias rural formal economy is examined using quantitative and qualitative data. Rural women continue to be underrepresented in farm managerial positions, and gendered income differences remain the norm. Rural women are underrepresented because they continue to have responsibility for most of the housework and child care. The traditional division of labor inside the household continues to dominate, thereby affecting womens career trajectories and earning potential. Value change about gendered roles in the formal economy has been minimal.

Северные Территории Российской Федерации, Стран Европы и Америки: Компаративистский Анализ Перспектив Сельского Развития (Northern Territories of the Russian Federation, European Countries and America: Comparative Analysis of the Prospects for Agricultural Development)

В работе обобщен российский и зарубежный (Скандинавские страны, Финляндия, США, Канада) опыт сельского развития на региональных и локальных уровнях, рассмотрены государственные, бизнес- и негосударственные-некоммерческие программы и проекты сельского развития, позволяющие сформулировать некоторые прогнозы и предложения для сельского развития северных территорий Российской Федерации с учетом зарубежного опыта. This paper sums up Russian and international (Scandinavian countries, Finland, USA and Canada) experience regarding agricultural development at regional and local levels. Authors analyzed state, business and non-governmental and non-commercial projects and programs of agricultural development which allow to formulate certain projections and proposals for the agricultural development of northern territories of the Russian Federation taking into consideration international experience in this sphere.