Möglichkeiten und Grenzen moderner Regionalentwicklung in den Regionen des russischen Nordens am Beispiel der Oblast' Murmansk

Located on the Kola Peninsula, Murmansk region was the first territorial unit with a polar climate that is equipped with significant mining structures worldwide, to satisfy the demand of young Soviet Union for raw materials. Due to the importance of the found items here (apatite, nonferrous metals, iron, mica, rare earths) numerous cities and settlements have been established in this climatically very difficult region. From 1920 to 1990 the population grew by 50 times to approx. 1.2 million. Beyond its importance as a supplier of raw materials the region became a traffic junction for soviet foreign trade and supply of Siberian mining sites and also a base for strong military forces, especially the Northern fleet (including nuclear submarines with ICBMs) and structures of Strategic air defense. Although economic profile and importance to the mother country could be obtained after collapse of the Soviet Union, there are serious socio-economic problems, whose greatest consequence is a compared to Russian average extreme population loss (1990 - 2014 approx. 33%). With the objective of evaluating future opportunities and risks, the present research describes the current socio-economical structures of the Murmansk region and their integration into administrative, fiscal and economic hierarchies of Russia. The structures, processes, and based on these conclusions are exemplary for most of the other regions of the Russian "Far North".