Bozhkov O.B., Trotsuk I.V. Post-Soviet farmers’ international in the agriculture of the North-West Region // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2020. V.5. №4. P. 162-179.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2020-5-4-162-179

Annotation

The article presents the life trajectories of representatives of those national groups that became active rural entrepreneurs in the North-West Region of Russia at different times. Unfortunately, we have not yet considered the national-ethnic aspect of rural entrepreneurship in our research projects (see, e.g.: Bozhkov, 2019; Bozhkov, Ignatova, 2015; 2017; Bozhkov, Trotsuk, 2018; Ignatova, 2016). The article focuses on various problems that the migrants from different former republics of the Soviet Union face in the zones of risky Russian agriculture. The empirical basis of the article is the data (transcripts of interviews and field observations) of sociological expeditions supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in 2005–2008 and 2018–2019. The four ‘cases’ confirm the hypothesis that, regardless of the migration-generational trajectory and activities in the Russian countryside, all entrepreneurs face the same problems (labor shortage, abandoned production facilities and dilapidated social infrastructure, expensive loans and harsh tax and administrative pressure ‘from above’—despite the declarative-nominal support of the state, the general atmosphere of social distrust, the lack of traditions and skills of real cooperation, and so on). There is some specificity of such problems; however, it is determined not by the national-ethnic factor, but rather by the reaction of the traditional rural community to ‘outsiders’ who bring their own rules and disrupt the routine of local life (with its unemployment, impoverishment, desolation and alcoholism).

Keywords

migration, nationality, rural entrepreneurs, northern Non-Black-Earth Region, local communities, cooperation, government support

About the authors

Bozhkov Oleg B., Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute — a branch of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 7th Krasnoarmeyskaya St., 25/14, Saint Petersburg, 190005.
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Trotsuk Irina V., DSc (Sociology), Professor, Sociology Chair, RUDN University; Senior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82, Moscow, Russia, 119571.
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Bozhkov O.B. Same addresses 10 years later (first impressions of the expedition-2018 to Boksitogorsky and Babaevsky districts) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №3. P. 115-127.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-3-115-127

Annotation

In 2006–2008, the author took part in the expeditions to seven districts of four subjects of the Russian Federation, which were supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities. The research project included (according to the sequence of field trips): in the Tver Region — Maksatikhinsky and Lesnoy districts; in the Novgorod Region — Pestovsky district; in the Vologda Region — Ustyuzhensky, Kaduysky and Babayevsky districts; in the Leningrad Region — Boksitogorsky district. At that time, the Federal Law No. 131 “On Local Self-Government” was adopted, and we conducted a survey of all heads of municipalities (rural settlements) and heads of operating agricultural enterprises including peasant farms. The results of expeditions were presented at a number of Russian and international conferences, and in numerous publications. The current research aims at studying those mechanisms of interaction of rural business with local authorities that reproduce the rural entrepreneurial stratum. To achieve this goal, we focus on the interaction of agricultural business with local (district and municipal) authorities and on its changes over the past fifteen years; and consider configurations of different interaction factors, which ensure the most effective reproduction of the entrepreneurial stratum in the village, in order to reconstruct models of interaction based on such configurations. Thus, the research focus on regional differences in the policies of local authorities for agricultural production and on their changes determined by the changes of the heads of district and municipal administrations. 

Keywords

Local self-government, agricultural production, municipal government, rural entrepreneurship, Internet.

About the author

Bozhkov Oleg B., Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Head of the Research Center “Biographical Foundation”. 190005, Saint Petersburg, 7th Krasnoarmeiskaya St., 25/14.
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Bozhkov O.B. To the bright memory of a friend. To complete the joint work is a matter of honor // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №4. P. 195-199.

About the author

Bozhkov Oleg B., Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Head of the Research Center “Biographical Foundation”. 190005, Saint Petersburg, 7 Krasnoarmeiskay St., 25/14.
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Bozhkov O.B., Ignatova S.N. Regional practices of business and the authorities interaction (the Russian North-West case) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №1. pp. 115-130.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-1-115-130

Annotation

The coordination of interests, cooperation and confrontation between the local authorities  and business within the rural society play an important role in the development  of rural Russia. The authors believe that the function of creating the rural business climate  belongs to the regional authorities, while the local self-government lacks the levers  of interaction with entrepreneurs. The success of entrepreneurial activities in agriculture  is determined both by the strategy of local (and regional) leaders in the industry,  and by human and social capital of rural enterprises’ managers. There is an obvious  “patrimonial” model of management, in which the head of the district develops an internal  policy based on one’s own goals and objectives with an eye on the regional requirements.  This policy either encourages the development of agriculture at the local level,  or only supports its preservation without any prospects for growth. Such conclusions  are based on the results of long-term studies in the peripheral agricultural areas of  non-Black-Earth regions of the Russian Federation. Despite the territorial proximity and  similarity of geography and climate, each area under study has its own strategy for the  development of agricultural business. Thus, the most interesting and various practices  can be observed at the district level due to the specific conditions for the local agricultural  enterprises. The authors confirmed their initial assumption that it is necessary  to conduct a typological analysis of territories and to form clusters of similar (in many  ways) areas to develop a single model of rural development for the Russian Federation. 

Keywords

ocal authorities, business environment, agricultural production, practices of interaction

About the authors

Bozhkov Oleg B., Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Head of the Research Center “Biographical Foundation”. 190005, Saint Petersburg, 7 Krasnoarmeiskay St., 25/14.
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Ignatova Svetlana N., Researcher, Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 190005, St. Petersburg, 7 Krasnoarmeiskay st., 25/14.
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