Socioeconomic potential of multipattern rural economic systems (the case study of Belgorod oblast)

Abstract

This paper is based on the results of a sociological study on multiple rural economic Systems, which was carried out in August 2011 in three districts of Belgorod oblast. The development of the oblast’s economy and agroindustrial complex in particular is a unique phenomenon. One of the highest rates of growth in agricultural output and low-rise house building were fixed here. A sociological explanation of the “Belgorod phenomenon” is considered from the conceptual and practical aspects. On the one hand, it is noted that the local development model has similar features with the ideas of a “territorial concept,” which implies the involvement of a wide range of local resources and the diversification of economic activity in combination with the development of local government. On the other hand, the study touches upon the practical mechanisms of how the “collectivist” model of rural life is controllably transformed by widely using the federal support of the agrarian sector in combination with the initiatives of regional and local authorities aimed at increasing the efficiency of using agricultural lands by creating large agroholdings and harmonizing the interests of entities of different economic systems. Factors, determining the origin of the “Belgorod miracle,” as well as specific problems and restrictions, which make it possible to repeat this experience in other regions of Russia, are described.