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Humanitarian sciences in Siberia

2014 year, number

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE ARCTIC IN THE 1920S-1980S

A.I. Timoshenko
Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IH SB RAS), Russia, 630090, Novosibirsk, Akad. Nikolaev str., 8
Keywords: Arctic, models of state administration, administrative-territorial system, mobilization solutions, mineral resources

Abstract

The article considers problems connected with development and implementation of the models of state administration in the Arctic during the Soviet period; analyzes basic principles of regulation of the socioeconomic and political processes in the Arctic territories. Since the public administration in the Soviet Arctic and its specific features remain understudied by historians, the present paper is mainly restricted to the statement of this question. The author attempts at determining the main factors and priorities of the Soviet state policy in the Northern regions of the country. This work led to a conclusion that problems of Soviet state administration can be considered, on the one hand, within the framework of methodological and conceptual approach postulating the existence of the world circumpolar civilization; on the other hand - in the context of dynamics of the Russian state’s development. It is stated that practically all vital processes in the Arctic were largely affected by changes in the state strategy aimed, first of all, at the Northern territories’ incorporation into the national economic complex of the USSR. In so doing the state used mostly the methods and mechanism of mobilization that proved to be most efficient in accomplishing the stated goals. It is noted that the mobilization model of administration in the Soviet Arctic remained practically to the end of the Soviet period. The specific forms and methods varied, while the basic goals set from the Center of state administration were invariable. As a result the Soviet models of state administration in the Arctic reflected the need to use the mineral and other resources of the region, both to meet the country’s domestic needs and to strengthen its positions on the international stage.