THE FIVE-YEAR PERIOD OF RUSSIA’S SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT AND REGIONAL POLICY: RUNNING IN PLACE OR GETTING READY FOR A BREAKTHROUGH?
V.E. Seliverstov
Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
Keywords: spatial development, regional policy, regional strategizing, socio-economic development strategies, macro-regions, Siberia, “eastern vector” of Russia’s development, digital economy, Strategy for the Spatial Development of the Russian Federation, Angara-Yenisei macroregion
Abstract
The article considers trends in the spatial development and regional policy of the Russian Federation in the last five years against the background of global trends, external challenges, and threats. It reveals the features of the “eastern vector" of Russia’s spatial development as a new element of its spatial policy and an important area of cross-border interactions. We show that the state support for Far Eastern investment projects and territories of priority development has dominated its implementation so far, whereas Siberia and its regions are practically excluded from this strategic initiative. Here we also examine the trends in national, inter-regional, and regional strategizing (as exemplified by the Strategy for the Spatial Development of Russia, the Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of the Angara-Yenisei Macroregion, as well as various growth and governance strategies and models for Novosibirsk and Kemerovo oblasts). By analyzing the statements of senior government officials, this paper gives an overview of recent strategic initiatives in public administration of spatial development processes. The conclusion justifies that, notwithstanding the extremely difficult growth conditions Russia underwent over the past five years, new strategic initiatives and trends gradually began to emerge, which have given grounds for cautious optimism about modernizing the country’s regional policy and spatial development.
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