Gusakov T.Yu. Rural informal economy of the Crimean village Novoalekseevka // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №4. P. 107-129.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-4-107-129
Annotation
The article considers the situation in the Crimean village as a result of the dynamic development of informal economy in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The author tries to adapt the existing classifications of informal economy to the specific features of rural Crimea, in which informal relations are primarily determined by the exogenous forces such as the return of deported peoples, the collapse of the collective farms system and peculiarities of the Ukrainian state building. The Crimean countryside became a hostage of the social-economic transformations of the post-Soviet period, and found the only way to adapt and survive under the “wild capitalism” in the refusal to follow the rules of ineffective formal institutions and in replacing them with informal ones.
“Self-reliance” became the main slogan of the Crimean village in the ‘dashing 1990s’. Ethnic, ideological and intercultural disagreements and a lack of trust determined a new model of coexistence of rural residents — a commonalty (an analogue of the pre-revolutionary rural community) constituted by a network of informal ties. Combinations of various mental features determine specific types of informal economy such as a traditional shift to trade and agriculture due to the available resource base. Transformations of the institutional environment and social-economic stabilization in the 2000s contributed to the reduction of informal sector in the rural economy of the Crimea.
Keywords
Crimea, countryside, informal economy, shadow economy, agriculture, peasantization, commonalty
About the author
Timur Y. Gusakov, Junior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Averkieva K.V. Symbiosis of agriculture and forestry on the early-developed periphery of the Non-Black Earth Region: The case of the Tarnogsky district of the Vologda Region // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №4. P. 86-106.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-4-86-106
Annotation
The article considers the social-economic structure of the Tarnogsky district of the Vologda Region, which has a peripheral position in both European Russia and the region. Its specific features such as the low rate of population decline and the growth of the local economy that is not high compared to other Non-Black Earth regions do not correspond to the centre-periphery logic of the well-developed space adopted in social and economic sciences. There is a highly developed timber industry including manufacture of a wide range of complex products; eleven agricultural enterprises and creamery that increase production annually, which is a rarity in the peripheral Non-Black Earth region. Such success of the Tarnogsky district is determined by both reasonable regional policies in forestry and agriculture and by personal qualities of the residents, i.e. the social capital. The author argues that the long-term territorial isolation combined with a long history of economic development played an important role in the current situation. Perhaps, the development of stable and close social ties was influenced by the ‘cluster’ (or “nesting”) type of rural settlement, in which “bushes” of 10-15 villages are located in walking distance from each other and separated by forest areas.
Keywords
rural area, periphery, early-developed territory, agriculture, forestry, social capital
About the author
Kseniya V. Averkieva, PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Staromonetny Per., 29.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rodnov M.I. Large agribusiness of the Ufa Province (the second half of XIX — early XX century) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №1. pp. 51-65.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-1-51-65
Annotation
In the second half of XIX — early XX century in the Ufa Province there already was (as part of the mixed regional economy) large agribusiness, at first only in the form of nobles’ latifundia. Later merchants (urban entrepreneurs) started active investments in the agricultural production, although until the end of the empire the merchants’ agricultural enterprises had not surpassed in scale those of the nobles. At the same time, both peasant farms and large enterprises of rural entrepreneurs developed rapidly. The article considers the general statistical information on landlord, merchant and large peasant (virtually farmers) enterprises of American type, and presents some examples of the most outstanding agricultural enterprises of landlords, merchants and peasants. The author believes that after the abolition of serfdom there were two obvious tendencies in rural Russia — on the one hand, the collapsing landlord economy, on the other hand, quite successful integration of a number of large landed estates into capitalist agricultural production together with even more impressive growth of merchant and large peasant capitalist agricultural enterprises. All this indicates a significant potential for the development of large capitalist agricultural enterprises in post-reform Russia, which the author considers on the example of the Ufa Province to re-evaluate the prospects of the large agricultural production in the Russian history.
Keywords
agriculture, large agribusiness, landlord economy, mixed economy, agricultural enterprise, the Southern Urals, the second half of XIX— early XX centuries
About the author
Mikhail I. Rodnov, DSc (History), Senior Researcher, Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 450054, Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, October prosp., 71.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Scientific life
- Russian Peasant Studies in Russian State index of scientific journals ("white list")
Dear colleagues!
Our journal, along with other scientific journals published by RANEPA, is included in the Russian State List of Scientific Publications (the "White List").
Information about the Russian State List of Scientific Journals
Journal profile at the Russian Center for Scientific Information
Press release on the RANEPA websiteWe are pleased that the results of our work over the 10 years of the journal's existence have been so highly recognized!
Friends and Partners
