Chapter 9: The Russian Domain

Geography 1700 with Bentley at University of Connecticut

About this deck

By: Arielle Rubin
Textbook:

Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World (2nd Edition)

The Logic of American Politics, 5th Edition
Created: 2011-04-07
Size: 74 flashcards
Views: 260

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Countries within the Russian Domain

Russia

Belarus

Ukraine

Georgia

Moldova

Armenia

Which countries identify with one another more strongly?

Russia

Belarus

Ukraine

Is Armenia on stable terms with Russia?

Yes

Are Moldova and Georgia on stable terms with Russia?

No. Russian soldiers are still stationed there.

Russia

dominant country in this area

142 million people

largest country on earth

6.6 million square miles; 11 time zones

Environmental problems in Russia

Rich industrial history: steel, weapons, and petroleum manufacturing. lots of pollution. Two species of fish known for their caviar: Black and Caspian sturgeon-- quantities have been extremely depleted.

What is causing the caviar problem?

overfishing and harvesting driven by overall increase in demand for this delicacy

Lack of environmental regulation

3 main caviar beds: Caspian sea, lower portions of the Volga river, Sea of Azov

Crucial player = Russian mafia.

Russian Mafia

play a huge role in caviar trade:

support poaching operations

well connected politically

excellent transportation connections

products shipped to Moscow and then the international market.

Air Pollution in Soviet Russia

caused by industrial processing plants, manufacturing, lack of environmental regulations, and the fact that many factories rely on low quality coal-- this creates much more pollution

auto emissions

increase in the rate of private vehicle ownership-- many still run on leaded gasoline. 90% of Moscow's air pollution is blamed on auto emissions

Water Pollution

urban water supplies are polluted with:

industrial pollution

raw sewage flows

and occurs because the demand for water is greater than the supply available.

oil spills

damaged thousands of square miles of habitat and evnironment-- in the northern Tundra and Taiga in the South

Lake Baikal

largest freshwater lake in the world.

since 1950s, becoming more and more polluted, due to paper factories that line the river flowing into the lake.

Nuclear Threat

post 1950s: soviet investment has been in nuclear weapon and nuclear energy development. they ignore environmental safety. there are cases where they use small scale nuclear explosions to move soil and earth so dams can be constructed. in northeast Siberia, nuclear arms and radiation enters the atmosphere.

Chernobyl

most significant nuclear disaster. Occurred on April 26, 1989. near Pripyat, Ukraine.

A new nuclear reactor is tested-- it explodes. Fuel particles and massive amounts of radiation went into the stratosphere.

Health issues associated with Chernobyl

56 people die immediately

270,000 cancer cases-- 93,000 are fatal. Most vulnerable were children under the age of 5. Huge spikes in thyroid cancer among this age group. Mental/cognitive impairment has been seen with this as well.

amount of radiation was 400 times the amount of the nuclear bombs in WWII.

Chernozem soil

richer, more fertile soil for farming practices. Found in southern Russia

Climate in the Russian Domain

world's largest high latitude continental climate:

1. extreme variations in seasonal temperatures-- extremely cold winters

2. extremely short growing period so that agricultural productivity is tough.

Southern parts of the region: opportunities for agriculture are best.

Urals Mountans

Divides European from East Russia.

East Russia= Siberia/Asian Russia.

Siberia/Asian Russia

movements of goods are relatively easy-- 4 major river systems all connected by canals draining into different areas.

Northern portion dominated by tundra vegetation

Southern portion dominated by Taiga vegetation: coniferous forests but agricultural productivity is difficult

Population and Settlement

pop of region = 200 mill. Heavily skewed to the West because:

better agriculture, conditions more livable.

European Russia has a pop of 110 mill, Siberia only has a population of 35 mill. Just under 3/4 live in western area

European Core: Subregions

Belarus, Ukraine, Euro Russia all have the largest cities, industrial complexes, and most productive farms

St. Petersburg

capital of russia from 1712-1917-- situated right on Baltic sea = accessibility

population - 4.7 mill

Moscow

modern day capital of Russia. Sprawling city. 8.5 mill people

Urban area near Volga River

Kazan, Samara, Volgograd

highly commercialized

rich in oil reserves

diverse industrial area

Serov and Chelyabinsk

near Ural Mountains-- 1 mill people and 1.1 mill people respectively

iron and steel industry is important

smelting industry

heavy machinery assembly and construction

Trans Siberian Railroad

completed in 1904. Connects Moscow to the Pacific Ocean

Baikal-Amur Mainline Railroad

completed in 1984

runs parallel to TSR

runs north of Lake Baikal-- does not directly reach pacific.

Large tunnel built to avoid hilly portions of the area.

Russian Eastward movement

between 1860 and 1914, 1 mill people left for Siberia:

1. TSR completed

2. agricultural opportunity

3. perceived greater political freedom

Russian eastward movement: Political and economic incentives

1. as you spread more of population across landscape, political power grows

2. natural resource development allows for economic opportunity: gold mines, lead, copper, tin mines

Russification

policy to spread Russian settlers and influences to non-Russian portions of the SU.

38% of russian minority found in Kazakhstan

34% of russian minority found in Latvia

30% of Russian minority in Estonia

Gulag

collection of Soviet-era labor camps for political prisoners. if you were a "troublemaker" you were sent to the Gulag

Could end up here for 3 years if you showed up to work 3 minutes late.

10 years: stole from a farmer's deal

25 years: told a joke about the communist party

Gulag Archipelago

gulags dotted across landscape like little islands

influence goes down after 1953 when Stalin dies

approx 14-15 million people have made their ways through the Gulag

Food based on percentage of work quota. 50% of work done = 50% of food received

1 mill people die in the Gulags

Russification Reversal

many countries now getting independence. setting up different policies to reverse russification themselves:

strict language requirements

strict citizenship requirements

Russians are returning to Russia-- by 2004 6 mill Russians have returned

Russian Far East

migration of Chinese individuals into SE area of Russia looking for job opportunities

Demographic crisis

constantly decreasing population.

certain conditions are poor enough that by 2050, the pop is going to go down by 45 mill people

since 1990s, death rates have been higher than birth rates. peak live birth rates in 1987 at 2.7 mill children-- by 1994, 1.4 mill

health issues affecting women

increase problem pregnancies

increase in maternal-child birth death rate: mothers dying during childbirth

increase in birth defects

*makes women not want to have as many kids

Russian males

death rates have increased: alcoholism and heart disease

Last 15 years of Russian Society

increase in murder and suicide rates

20-30% increase in death rate

traced back to toxic enviro

2006: Change on the horizon?

Putin put in a policy to increase birth rates. 10 year program. incentives for people to have a 2nd child:

cash grants, longer maternity leaves, gov't subsidized day care

Slavic peoples

a group in eastern europe and russia who speak Slavic languages-- distinct branch of indo-euro languages.

100 CE Slavs

start to mingle with Byzantine Empire.

Converging of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

1st attempt ultimtely fails due to invasions of mongols from east and tartars in the west

14th Century Russian Empire

slavs overthrow tartars:

development of new russian empire

occurs right were present day moscow is

3 divisions of Slavic peoples:

1. Russians

2. Ukranians

3. NW Russians-- Conquered by Polish; Belarussian

16th and 17th Century Russian Empire

former Tartar areas now become Russia

ally with the Cossacks: highly mobile slavic speaking Christians of the Soutern Russian Steppe.1

18th Century Russian Empire

Russians defeat swedes-- more western activity

access to baltic sea = st.petersburg being built.

defeats poles and Turks

add the Ukraine and Belarus back into area

19th Century RE

movement into central Asia

take over Islamic groups of area

Russian army starts having issues in Caucus Mountains

Georgians and Armenians accept rule from Russian empire because its better than the ottoman rule.

Dominant language family

slavic

Belarus = Belarusian

Ukraine= east- Russian west- Ukrainian

Crimean Peninsula: merging between the two

Moldova = Romanian

Russia and language

80% speaking Russian

Finno Urgic near Finland area

Altaic: Turkish

dominant religion

eastern orthodoxy: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

Russia has a theocracy until 1917.

Ukraine: West = Catholicism, East: Orthodox

Armenia: rise of evangelical protestantism

Non-christian religions

Islam is dominant = 20-25 mill followers. Majority are Sunni. Near Kazakhstan

Russian art

eastern style is accepted early on. by 1920s, complete dismissal of european modern art. Russian artists fled to the west.

Socialist realism

style of art devoted to realistic depictions of workers challenging nature or struggling against capitalism.

lots of investments in high arts-- classical music and ballet are still very well known to this day.

1917: Collapse of Russian Empire

led by the Bolsheviks: faction of the communist movement

led by Lenin aka Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov

Capitol is switched-- St. Petersburg is renamed Leningrad

Union republics

purpose was to recognize the rights of non-Russians. Location was all outside Russia.

15 union republics were created:

1. part of SU

theoretically they had the power to leave if they wanted to along with political freedom

autonomous areas

minor political subunits created in former SU and designed to recognize the special status of minority groups within existing republics:

Chukotka

Yupih Eskimos: 1/3 of this area

Kalingrad Oblast

continued occupation of Sakhailand Island and Kuril Islands

End of Soviet System: Glastnost

policy of greater political openness. leads to perestroika

Perestroika

planned economic restructuring to increase production efficiency and increased responsiveness to needs of soviet citizens.

Failure of Soviet-Afghan war

SU failed-- heightened issues even more

Commonwealth of Independent States

loose political union under former soviet republics. est in 1992.

little impact: discussion only, no political power, no econ powers.

closest political allies = russia, ukraine, belarus

Denuclearization

return of nuclear weapons from outlying republic Russian control and partial dismantling during 1990s:

nuclear arsenals in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus (largest)

Russian Federation Treaty

directed toward autonomous areas:

greater political freedom, cultural freedom, econ freedom, and control to conduct foreign trade

East Asia concerns

· Boarder between Russia and China was something that the Russian Empire put in to place in 1858

closer to boundaries tension about who’s land it is

· Japan: continued occupation of Kuril and Sakhalian Islands.

concern: Russia has concern over expansion of NATO countries in to the area

· did not look favorably to the edition of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania to becoming native forces.

1990-1999: GNP

falls 40%. worst collapse since great depression

2002 econ issues

situation turning around because of vast oil and natural gas industries

Centralized economic planning

state sets the production goals and controls means of production. focus is on heavy industry such as steel, machinery, chemical production, and electricity production. Detriments: quality of consumer goods was not there.

Agriculture

centralized on state owned farms and collectives. operates in same way-- govt provides fertilizer and equipment.

4% of land produced 25-33% of all agr. output

Post Soviet Economy

Mixed economy: state run businesses, private enterprises

Problems: gov't controls anything-- unstable currency, corruption, quickly changing government policies

privatization

1992: prices free from state control: encouragement of production increases; supply and demand relationship.

1993: full privatization. however, lots of mismanagement and corruption

2004: agriculture 90% of farmlands are privatized

Russian Mafia (again)

40% of private economy is heavily influenced by russian mob

60% at the time of state run economy

offer businesses:

· bribery services

· protection services

· loans

Estimates

· 800,000 different organizations within Mafia

· biggest influences in construction, drug dealing, prostitution

Overall social development

has seen increased rates of violent crimes and domestic violence

Ukraine: rape is a common problem

Russia's health care crisis

decreased availability of vaccines and medical services = increases in cholera, typhus, bubonic plague

chronic illnessses: cardiovascular disease, alcoholism, smoking. 1/3 of men and 1/3 of women have drinking problems.

have some of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS rates in the world-- mostly due to IV drug use

Russia's petroleum economy

· 25% of economic output

Natural gas

· has 35% of world’s reserves

· largest exporter

Oil

· largest non-OPEC producer of oil

· output of oil is greater of the US

· twice the reserves of US

Soviet Union Era

· ½ of all natural gas and oil ends up in Belarus and Ukraine

Post SU

· 16% of crude oil heads into Europe

· 25% of natural gas heads into Europe

Goals of petroleum economy:

Siberian gas pipeline: connects to Western Europe through the Ukraine

Expansons:

Yamal-Europe pipeline through Belarus

Blue Stream pipeline through Turkey.

About this deck

By: Arielle Rubin
Textbook:

Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World (2nd Edition)

The Logic of American Politics, 5th Edition
Created: 2011-04-07
Size: 74 flashcards
Views: 260

About StudyBlue

“I have used this website for three exams, and I see a huge difference in my test results.”
Naj