I. Terns associated with Russia;
1. Russification:
The Soviet policy of resettling Russians into non-Russian portions of the Soviet Union, also changed the region’s human geography.
Millions of Russians were given economic and political incentives to move elsewhere in the Soviet Union in order to increase Russian dominance in many of the outlying portions of the country.
The spread of Russian politics and cultures.
2. Imperialism:
An unequal human and territorial relationship, usually in the form of an empire, based on ideas of superiority and practices of dominance, and involving the extension of authority and control of one state or people over another.
The Russia Empire continuously expanded and take over territories.
3. State planning:
Known as “Centralized Economic Planning”
The state controls production targets and industrial output.
Communist leader such as Stalin consolidated power in the 1920s, 1930s, they nationalized Russian industries and agriculture.
4. Distance decay:
Distance decay is a geographical term which describes the effect of distance on cultural or spatial interactions. The distance decay effect states that the interaction between two locales declines as the distance between them increases. Once the distance is outside of the two locales activity space their interactions begin to decrease.
In Russia, because of the country’s size, the distance from the capital (Moscow) to other places makes it hard to give orders or for the capital to control the whole countries.
5. Federation:
Is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central (federal) government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, are typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of the states.
In Russia, Soviet leaders designed geopolitical solution to maintain the country’s territorial boundaries, and theoretically acknowledged the rights of non-Russian citizens by creating Union Republics -> Autonomous Areas
Devolution: more localized political control in Russia
Russian leaders fear other areas will secede
6. Forward capital:
A symbolic relocation of a capital city to a geographically or demographically peripheral location may be for either economic or strategic reasons (sometimes known as a "forward capital" or spearhead capital)
Capital city (Moscow) positioned in actually or potentially contested territory, usually near an international border, confirms the state’s determination to maintain its presence in the region (EU)
7. Permafrost:
(In Russia) A cold-climate condition of unstable seasonally frozen ground that limits the growth of vegetation and causes problems for railroad construction. (Tundra region of Russia)
8. Continentally:
A climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby. Often winter temperature is cold enough to support a fixed period of snow each year, and relatively moderate precipitation occurring mostly in summer.
9. Command economy:
An economy where supply and price are regulated by the government rather than market forces. Government planners decide which goods and services are produced and how they are distributed. The former Soviet Union was an example of a command economy. Also called a centrally planned economy.
10. Communism:
A theory advocating elimination of private property
A system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed
11. Democracy:
Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Democracy allows eligible citizens to participate equally—either directly or through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It encompasses social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and
