Power and the People

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 containssignificant potential for escalating centre vs. periphery tensions.

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

Auteur

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

Contenu
Chapter 1. Introductory.- Chapter 2. Reindeer Husbandry Statistics.- Chapter 3. Actors
and Tensions in the Reindeer Husbandry Part of Murmansk Region.- Chapter 4. 'Urban' ('commuting') reindeer husbandry in Murmansk Region.- Chapter 5. Summing up and conclusions.- Chapter 6. Epilogue: War and Lithium.