ЮГРА В КОНТЕКСТЕ ПОЗДНЕСОВЕТСКОЙ МОДЕРНИЗАЦИИ: РЕГИОНАЛЬНАЯ ИСТОРИЯ В ОБЩЕНАЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ ПЕРСПЕКТИВЕ

Abstract

The formation of Russia’s regional structure involves the combination of two main perspectives — regional and national. It is not a matter of “overlaying” one chronological and event framework on another, but of identifying the degree of correlation of regional history with the national processes in which the subjectivity of the region is reflected and formed. The history of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Ugra is one of the significant examples of such a combination of research perspectives. The 1953–1991 period occupies a special place in the history of Ugra — from the thaw to perestroika. In a very short time by historical standards, the region has experienced a qualitative turn in its development. The oil factor played a dominant role in the process of establishing the subjectivity of Ugra as a region, being at the same time a resource for economic development, a locomotive of modernization and a catalyst for sociocultural changes. As a result of intensive industrial development in the 1960–1980s the place of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in Russia’s regional structure has changed radically: from agrarian and unpromising it turned into industrial and intensively progressive; the subsidized region became a donor region, providing the Soviet Union with solutions of not only economic, but also geopolitical challenges. The case of Ugra gives an opportunity to focus on the Soviet specificity of modernization of territories of new industrial development. The region’s modernization strategy has been both progress and challenge, radically changing the natural and social environment of the region. The consequences of these transformations — regardless of the mark of their retrospective assessment — have been long-lasting and influence the life in Ugra to this day.