Kovalenko S.G.Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, Far Eastern Branch of RAS, Vladivostok, Russian Federation ostina@list.ru
ImportanceThe research investigates the Perestroika as a turning point in the Russian history. The article focuses on the Soviet modernization of the Far Eastern economy in terms of contemporary theoretical perspectives. Objectives I analyze reformers' ideas of unleashing the socialistic potential at the central and regional levels. For this, they intended to initiate another stage of economic modernization in the Far East. The research aims at unveiling whether they succeeded in attaining their official goals. Methods The research relies upon a historical narration, content analysis of recently discovered historical documents and the method of oral history, which Sigurd Schmidt called the practice of scientifically organized and documented oral information of participants or witnesses of events. Furthermore, I applied a situation analysis of the Perestroika processes in the regional economy, and the theory of modernization. Results The article reviews what impact the Perestroika processes had on the regional economy of the Far East, and illustrates the process of destroying the Soviet economic system and adverse consequences for the population of the Far Eastern region. Conclusions and Relevance It is worth mentioning an attempt of changing the structure of the Soviet economic system as an important and crucial aspect of those processes. It caused the loss of control at the regional and local levels. I conclude that such acceleration had catastrophic implications for the social life and economy of the Far East. I reveal reasons why the region's governing elite is reluctant to take part in crucial and fundamental reforms and transformations.
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