The multi-ethnic Stavropol krai: tensions, conflicts, the ways of stabilization

The conflict processes of the Southern Russia are analysed in the paper by case study of the Stavropol Krai. So far the attempts to eradicate the negative tendencies influencing the situation in the region have not been successful: the consequences of de-modernization and archaism of economy have not been overcome; though slowly still goes on de-Russification of the region; there is a high labour surplus and unemployment, stimulating the migration activity of the inhabitants; the further consolidation of the North Caucasus regional identity is in process, and it comes to rivalry with the Russian national identity. The paper shows that the most important reason, that the regional crisis in the South of Russia has acquired a protracted and systemic character, is a deep social and cultural division between the “national" republics of the region and the “Russian" territories and regions. The incoherent, compromise nature of the Russian modernization is a major cause of disintegration processes and political turmoil in the South of Russia. A distinctive feature of the present stage of modernization of the region is the dissonance between declared objectives, such as de-ideologization of political sphere, formation of all-Russian civic identity, creation of favourable conditions for large-scale business projects, introduction of new technologies and, on the other hand, anachronisms remaining valid -the administrative-distributive economy, the prevalence of informal, “shadow" mechanisms of social regulation. In this situation, paradoxically, there is social demand for a new feudalism, for the clan structure, for ethnic and religious ideologies. It is concluded that the Stavropol Krai, as well as the North Caucasus as a whole, needs not simply an economic, but a complex modernization project, which shouldinclude social, political and cultural modernization.