The Other Russia

The Other Russia Most recent research seeks to explain contemporary changes in Russia by analysing the decisions of Russian leaders, oligarchs and politicians based in Moscow. This book examines another Russia, one of ordinary people changing their environment and taking opportunities to provoke societal changes in small towns and the countryside. Russia is a resource-rich society and the country’s strategy and institutional structure are built on the most valuable of these resources: oil and gas. Analysing the implications of this situation at the local level, this book offers chapters on resource use, local authorities, enterprises, poverty and types of individual, as well as a final chapter which places local societies within the framework of the Russian politicised economy. Based on extensive empirical data gathered through more than 400 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, teachers, social workers and those working for the local authorities, this book sheds light on the role of local activity in the development of Russian society and is essential reading for students and scholars interested in Russia and its politics. Leo Granberg is a Scholar in the ‘Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies – Choices of Russian Modernisation’ at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Ann-Mari Sätre is Senior Lecturer in Eurasian Studies and Research Fellow at the Centre of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. Studies in Contemporary Russia Series Editor: Markku Kivinen Studies in Contemporary Russia is a series of cutting-edge, contemporary studies. These monographs, joint publications and edited volumes branch out into various disciplines, innovatively combining research methods and theories to approach the core questions of Russian modernisation: how do the dynamics of resources and rules affect the Russian economy and what are the prospects of and need for diversification? What is the impact of the changing state–society relationship? How does the emerging welfare regime work? What is the role of Russia in contemporary international relations? How should we understand the present Russian political system? What is the philosophical background of modernisation as a whole and its Russian version in particular? The variety of opinions on these issues is vast. Some see increasingly less difference between contemporary Russia and the Soviet Union while, at the other extreme, prominent experts regard Russia as a ‘more or less’ normal European state. At the same time new variants of modernisation are espoused as a result of Russian membership of the global BRIC powers. Combining aspects of Western and Soviet modernisation with some anti- modern or traditional tendencies the Russian case is ideal for probing deeper into the evolving nature of modernisation. Which of the available courses Russia will follow remains an open question, but these trajectories provide the alternatives available for discussion in this ground-breaking and authoritative series. The editor and the editorial board of the series represent the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies: Choices of Russian Modernisation. For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/series/ASHSER-1421 Paganism, Traditionalism, Nationalism Kaarina Aitamurto Authoritarian Modernization in Russia Ideas, institutions, and policies Vladimir Gel’man Philosophical and Cultural Interpretations of Russian Modernisation Edited by Arto Mustajoki and Katja Lehtisaari The Other Russia Local experience and societal change Leo Granberg and Ann-Mari Sätre The Other Russia Local experience and societal change Leo Granberg and Ann-Mari Sätre First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Leo Granberg and Ann-Mari Sätre The right of Leo Granberg and Ann-Mari Sätre to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-4724-7689-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-56725-9 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Cenveo Publisher Services Contents Acknowledgements vii List of abbreviations xi 1 Introduction 1 2 How to get resources into use 12 3 Local authorities 33 4 Entrepreneurs 62 5 Solving social problems 94 6 Coping, agency and development 121 7 The other Russia 159 References 179 Index 188 Acknowledgements We feel privileged to have had the opportunity to write this book. This would not have been possible without all the friendly people we met on the outskirts of Russia, without all those who were willing to share their experiences, views, fears and values with us. We visited many interesting places where foreigners usually do not venture. This has all been fascinating. We are extremely grateful for all the hospitality, kindness, curiosity and interest we have met over the years. Our great thanks go to the hundreds of local people we met during our trips, who gave us strength and motivation to continue to this point. This book is based on several research projects carried out in Russia. The idea to write this book together came up about four years ago. After having exchanged earlier publications, we discovered that we had a common interest and similar experiences based on earlier research. We had both spent a lot of time doing fieldwork in peripheral areas of Russia, although in different regions. We both wanted to mediate a picture of how people outside the cities and major metro- poles in Russia live, people who we hear so little about. We want to contribute to an improved understanding about what possibilities and challenges ordinary people meet, and about the life situation of ordinary Russians. We feel that this ambition has become even more important in recent times, in the midst of increasing international tensions. In our luggage, we also had many previous trips to Russia and the Soviet Union and close to thirty years of research on transfor- mation in Russia. The fieldwork in the Archangelsk region started in order to monitor the results of a development project by SIDA. Inez Backlund was the leader of this project which started in 1999. We are grateful to her for introducing us to the field in 2002. Her engagement in developing the SIDA project and in helping each of its participants was crucial and highly inspiring. She coordinated most research trips to four districts in the Archangelsk region up to 2012. She made it possible to enter many Russian kitchens to conduct personal interviews and conversations, and she forwarded valuable contact information for politicians, administrators, entrepreneurs and workplaces in a number of different districts. Some of these people became close friends. We would like to thank Irina Sadakova for coordinating the research trip to the Archangelsk region in 2011, for arranging interviews in institutions, organisations dealing with social issues and also with young viii Acknowledgements couples and single mothers in cafes or private homes. We are indebted to Liya Kalinnikova from the University of Archangelsk and the University of Uppsala (now at the University of Gävle) for her engagement, for sharing her expertise in social work in Russia and valuable assistance in coordinating our visits to the Archangelsk region in 2012–15, for arranging meetings and seminars, and access to workplaces. The fieldwork in Karelia started in 2002 as a continuation to transition studies in Baltic countries by Ilkka Alanen, Jouko Nikula, Helvi Pöder and others. Long and fruitful discussions with Ilkka Alanen have left many traces in this book. Intensive cooperation with Jouko Nikula has continued ever since the first fieldtrip from Helsinki to Russian Karelia. The exotic field research in Siberia in 2005 was only possible thanks to the initiative by and cooperation with Juha Kantanen from the Agrifood Research Finland (now in the Natural Resources Institute Finland). In 2003–12 Inna Kopoteva efficiently coordinated all fieldtrips and participated in research in many other ways, also managing the ‘Ladoga Initiative’ development project, which was run in 2011–13 at the Ruralia Institute/ Mikkeli, University of Helsinki. Thanks to the Ruralia Institute and its staff for institutional support and interest in the project. Liya Kalinnikova coordinated our two latest trips to Karelia. We are indebted to all of you for sharing this great time with us. A most important cooperation was established with researchers from the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (NNGU), first with Alexander Bedny and others in a research project in 2007–9, funded by the Academy of Finland. Special thanks are due to Nina Ivashinenko for inviting us to participate in her research team at the Nizhny Novgorod Scientific Research Centre for Economics, Society and Science (EON) of NNGU. The ongoing cooperation with Nina Ivashinenko and her team started around poverty research in 2010. Our sincere thanks to Alexander Soldatkin and Alla Varyzgina for close cooperation in research and for coordinating research trips in the Nizhny Novgorod region in 2012–14. The assistance of Danila Strelkov and others in 2013–14 has also been most valuable. Among other things, the team organised most of the transcriptions of interviews from the fieldtrips to all the four regions the authors visited together in 2012–15. We had a rewarding opportunity to cooperate with Rebecca Kay from Glasgow.

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