Russian Far Eastern Policy as a Problem of Building the Developmental State

Abstract

This article focuses on the transformation of the development policies of the Russian Far East and the deviations from its original aims. The modern system of regional governance, which has emerged since 2013, corresponds to the case of a developmental state. Thus far, the system has failed to achieve its target growth rate or development quality in the region. The article deals with two issues. First, it provides a theoretical interpretation of contemporary policies in the Far East and an explanation of the problem defined above. Second, it contributes the case of the Far East to research on developmental states for the first time. The article traces how the aims of Far Eastern policies have transformed, revealing that the widening of its spatial coverage and its goals has led to an increasing number of imitative activities. The major causes of this transformation are multi-tasking and the structural weakness of the Ministry for the Development of the Far East and Arctic, and its constant struggle to maintain its position among other ministries and state offices. The study is based on open data and field research conducted in the southern territories of the Russian Far East (Primorsky, Habarovsk and Amur Regions) during 2019–2020. It introduces
new data sources such as previously unpublished archive data and several anonymous semistructured interviews with representatives of the state, municipalities, and other development institutions, and the entrepreneurs residing in the Advanced Special Economic Zones (ASEZ).