Socio-Economic Geography in Russia Edited by P. Ya. Baklanov

Socio-Economic Geography in Russia Edited by P. Ya. Baklanov Dalnauka, Vladivostok, 2015, 310 p. ISBN 978-8044-1557-1This book represents the analytical overview of human-geographical research in Russia. It was prepared for the Regional Conference of the International Geographical Union held in August 2015 in Moscow. The book was published under the aegis of the Russian Geographical Society in order to present Russian human-geographical research topics and achievements to a non-Russian speaker.The book is divided into three parts. The first part presents main issues specific to theoretical and methodological approaches in Russian human-geographical research. During Soviet times human (and, especially, economic) geography was being subject to high ideological pressure. In the post-Soviet times lack of the dominant ideology has led to the "erosion" of theoretical base of geographical science. As the authors mention, since the beginning of the 1990s, human geography in Russia has been suffering from crisis in theory and in education. Nonetheless, Russian geographers have been trying to overcome this crisis and adapt themselves to world leading trends in geographical research. In the authors' opinion, the Russian human geography is "better adapted to the universal context of Human Geography than it was 25 years ago".Human-geographical research in Russia is grouped in 11 main scientific branches and 5 inter-disciplinary directions. The following branches enjoy a short description in the book: geography of population, urban geography, geography of natural resources, geography of industry, geography of agriculture, geography of transportation, geography of tertiary sector (services), cultural geography, political geography and geopolitics, recreational geography and geography of tourism, as well as social-economic geography of foreign countries and world geography. Regionalization, regional development, regional policy, environmental management and problems represent inter-disciplinary topics frequently met in human-geographical papers.The second part of the book deals with the development of human-geographical research in the main institutions of the two capitals, Moscow, the administrative capital, and Saint Petersburg, the cultural capital. Thus, in Moscow geographical research gravitates to two poles: Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. From each institution there are presented departments and divisions, whose main objective is human-geographical research (or education). Each presentation starts with the short history of the division, more attention is being paid to the research carried out in the last 25 years. Main contributors are mentioned. Presentations of other research and educational institutions all across the book stick to the same structure.In Saint Petersburg human-geographical research is concentrated in three universities: Saint Petersburg State University, Herzen Pedagogical University and Saint Petersburg State University of Economics. …