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Power and the People

The State and Peripheral Communities in the Russian Far North

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  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Yulian Konstantinov

    1. Bulgarian Society for Regional Cultural Studies, Sofia, Bulgaria

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  • Puts Tundra-dependent communities (Sami and Komi reindeer-herders) at the centre of a narrative of power relations

  • Gives a rare bottom-up detailed view of power-people relations in today’s Russia

  • Provides a field-based ethnography of centre-periphery relations

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Table of contents (4 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Yulian Konstantinov
    Pages 1-7

  3. Reindeer Husbandry Statistics

    • Yulian Konstantinov
    Pages 9-49

  4. Actors and Tensions in the Reindeer Husbandry Part of Murmansk Region

    • Yulian Konstantinov
    Pages 51-181

  5. ‘Urban’ (‘Commuting’) Reindeer Husbandry in Murmansk Region

    • Yulian Konstantinov
    Pages 183-306

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 307-375
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Keywords

About this book

This book discusses state-periphery relations from the view-point of a reindeer husbandry community in the Russian Far North (Murmansk Region). The time is the current period of Putin-led Russia. The analysis is based on the premise that the mode of current top-power governance can be described as selective de-centralization. Below a certain level of state power interests, conflicts get resolved in favour of local communities. That gains support for the supreme leadership, and reproduces a Soviet-like reality. Termed sovkhoism, the latter holds the Soviet state-farm (sovkhoz) as creating an ideal socio-economic environment. When issues are of significant interest to superior power, selection favours cavalier bypassing of people-friendly concerns. At this level, power acts in an authoritarian mode, favouring the interests of state power structures in conjunction with the upper tiers of the loyal oligarchate. It is shown how this governing mode contains significant potential for escalating centre vs. periphery tensions.

Reviews

"Konstantinov links meticulous micro-level analysis of reindeer herders and other actors in the Russian north to a brilliant macro-level interpretation of contemporary governance in Russia, emphasizing continuity in 'meta-Soviet' values and social relations even as the fiction of total control is replaced by 'selective decentralization'." (Chris Hann, Emeritus Director, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Bulgarian Society for Regional Cultural Studies, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Yulian Konstantinov

About the author

Yulian Konstantinov is Chair of Bulgarian Society for Regional Cultural Studies, NGO, Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Power and the People

  • Book Subtitle: The State and Peripheral Communities in the Russian Far North

  • Authors: Yulian Konstantinov

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38306-9

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-38305-2Published: 03 September 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-38308-3Due: 17 September 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-38306-9Published: 02 September 2023

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 375

  • Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations, 19 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Russian, Soviet, and East European History, European Politics

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