The assessment of resilience of Russian resource-based regions

Abstract

The article examines contemporary approaches to and the evaluation of “resource dependence” and “resource-based regions”. Resource dependence analysis is based on the data of the Russian Federal State Statistic Service (Rosstat) and customs service statistics from 2005 to 2016. The starting point (2005) was chosen to marking the end of economic restoration after the 1990s steep decline. Moreover, it was in 2005 when the calculation of mining industry share in gross regional product began. 2016 is the last year available. The authors suggest resilience as a new criterion for choosing an optimal development trajectory. For the assessment of the resilience of Russian resource-based regions the authors use the approach of R. Martin, P. Sunley, et al and methods of coefficients calculation for adaptive resilience and resilience adaptability. The concept is regarded as the ability of a region to mitigate external and internal shocks in a short-term perspective, and to choose an optimal development trajectory in a long term one. Results of this study show that 19 out of 85 constituent entities of Russia may be defined as resource-based (resource-dependent). Their resource dependence is different, varying from monoregions to region’s specialization in mining (resource-dependent regions). Analysis of their resource dependence dynamics shows that in most regions resource dependence grows, and their resilience assessment shows that most regions are resilient and tend to retain the selected development trajectory in a long-term perspective.