The small peoples of the North: Ethnic relations and prospects for survival under new conditions

Abstract

Two specialists on the Russian North, outspoken proponents of a thorough re‐examination of environmental and social policy in the region, survey the current situation and prospects for survival of the numerically small first nations of northern European Russia, Siberia, and the Russian Far East. This extended essay, which incorporates many of the authors’ personal views (see also Leksin and Andreyeva, 1994) is significant as a candid assessment of the seriousness of the challenge confronting these groups on the eve of the 21st century. The authors emphasize throughout the essay the need to provide conditions conducive to the adoption of individual place‐ and culture‐specific solutions within the context of more broadly based policy initiatives, as a reflection of the great variety of peoples and environments existing in the Russian North, and the need to place the linkage between environment and ethnicity at the forefront of policy and analysis.