Sushchiy S.Ya. The Strategy of Social and Economic Development of the Southern Federal District-2020: Preliminary Assessment of the Results

Sergey Ya. Sushchiy
Federal Research Center Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation

Abstract. The article examines the features of the implementation of the Strategy of Social and Economic Development of the Southern Federal District until 2020. It is established that the dynamics of the main segments of the economy and social sphere of the SFD in the 2010s proceeded according to the inertial scenario. The pace of their development slowed noticeably after 2014. This was due to the completion of large-scale financing of Olympic facilities. The deterioration of Russia’s international position and the imposition of a sanctions regime also had a negative impact on the dynamics of the district.
But the failure to meet most of the targets was also due to the shortcomings of the Strategy itself. They include the orientation of all target indicators comparable to the Soviet Union on the linear growth, as well as the predominantly “declarative” nature of priorities in terms of the development of many clusters of the regional economy.
The socio-economic development of the SFD in the 2010s is largely determined by the dynamics of the Azov-Black Sea region of advanced growth. The accelerated development of this zone was not so much the result of a deliberate policy of the federal center, but rather a consequence of the complex self-development of the local communities with the help of regional authorities successfully using the agroclimatic, transport, socio-demographic advantages of their territorial systems.
The specificity of the implementation of the Strategy of the development of the Southern Federal district confirms that territorial social and economic systems with the dominating market mechanisms are partially subject to a planned impact of government authority when such an impact is supported by the regular large scale financing.

Key words: strategy of the Southern Federal District development, regional strategizing, economic clusters, advanced development zones, large investment projects, socio-economic forecasts, target indicators.

Citation. Sushchiy S.Ya. The Strategy of Social and Economic Development of the Southern Federal District-2020: Preliminary Assessment of the Results. Regionalnaya ekonomika. Yug Rossii [Regional Economy. The South of Russia], 2019, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 88-102. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/re.volsu.2019.1.8

ATTACHMENTS: /8_Sushchij.pdf