The story of the incredible adventures of the "Far Eastern Hectare" project

The story of the “Far Eastern hectare”, for which no one really went, and which no one really got, and the one who got it did not really cultivate (or even abandoned a piece of land) - the story is, in fact, very revealing. Because it explains how power works and what it considers its priority.

Power through rituals

Economist Dmitry Prokofiyev explains why the Russian government needed all this mess:

“Those who are trying to point out the authorities to some “mistakes and shortcomings” that allegedly prevent the authorities themselves from achieving their own goals, simply do not want to understand that the stated goals may have nothing to do with reality at all, or real priorities of power.

All undertakings of power can actually be some kind of ritual procedures, the only purpose of which is to prove to everyone around who is in charge here and, on the basis of this, get a lot of goodies.

But what kind of nishtyaki are these and who will get them - the authorities will not share this knowledge with anyone .

Remember, there was such a "Far Eastern hectare"? Launched in 2016, this program was supposed to "give impetus to mass migration to the eastern outskirts of the Russian Federation" and through this "ensure the demographic security of the region". In any case, this was the official rationale for the project.

And what happened? Almost nothing

“ Five years later, the failure in solving the problem of the demographic security of the region through the implementation of this project became quite obvious, since the majority of participants turned out to be the Far East themselves (and if we evaluate it from the point of view of “fixing” the population, then there were no significant changes in the outflow rates)”, - sociologist Tatyana Zhuravskaya and economist Natalya Ryzhova from the Institute for Economic Research of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences write in the article “Far Eastern Hectare: Ritualization of the Development Machine” (Mir Rossii, No. 4.2022).

But despite this, scientists are surprised, “the program continues to be presented as an important, flagship and, most importantly, successful project of a new “pivot to the East”.

Maybe those who nevertheless took the land were able to somehow master it?

Not really. “... the land located in the Primorsky Territory turned out to be the most demanded under the DV-hectare program - 36% of all applications submitted. At the same time, Primorsky Krai is the leader in terms of the share of refusals (66%), and in the most demanded Khasansky district (37.2% of applications in the region for the entire period), only 22% of applications were approved»

But those who received a plot in the Khasan district ...did not begin to cultivate it!

“The 2020 survey showed that more than 72% of the distributed sites “were abandoned, that is, there were no visual signs of permanent residence or activity on them. … even in the most demanded area within the framework of the DV-hectare program, previously unused (abandoned) land is actually not being developed. The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and Magadan Oblast account for the least failures, which also characterizes the demand for the program and, in a sense, the demand for land in the regions. The program itself lacks the basic premise of economic growth: almost no one applies for many plots, except for the applicant, at least the land was often not in demand even before the launch of the program”.

Thus, the researchers write, “although formal indicators indicate the success of the implementation of the Far East Hectare program, “ it is more correct to characterize the results with the term “failure” both in terms of attracting / retaining the population (most of the participants are from the Far East) and in terms of use, introduction of new, previously unused plots of land into economic circulation"

As it turned out, with all the "untapped spaces" - there is no "no man's" land. Many refusals, land disputes, ambiguities in accounting systems - all this required intervention in land and urban planning legislation. Gradually, other changes were made: participants in the compatriots resettlement program were allowed to take a hectare, they added the opportunity to take a preferential Far Eastern mortgage, the project was expanded to the Arctic regions, and a second hectare was allowed.

All this, however, did not lead to mass resettlement, and the problem of demographic security, ..., remained unresolved

Then what was all this for? And for the ritual...

"DV-hectare" remains a reference project in the views of officials, ..., at the same time, more and more detached from the real practices of land development", - researchers from the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences write, and...

We see this as a bureaucratic ritual that supports the legitimacy of further intervention by the central authorities in the affairs of the region.

It is obvious that the participants in the ritual ascribe different meanings to what is happening, adapt them for their own purposes, sometimes do not attach any importance to the content of the message.

What matters is only the form of repeated interactions, conditioned and understandable, often appealing to archetypal meanings.

That is. All these "programs", "projects", and ... are nothing more than rituals designed to demonstrate the legitimacy of the central government on the outskirts

Explains a lot.

And the rituals can be very different ...”, - Prokofiyev concludes.

Ordinary people cannot see the available hectares as their ears

Further, the analyst cites the comment of one of the residents of Vladivostok:

“I want to add / explain the nuance using the example of Primorsky Krai. It's not about rituals, but about a complete misunderstanding of how we live. For example, in Primorye, it was absolutely clear to any local how this would happen - large companies would take all the land that, in principle, makes sense to take.

There is a serious problem with the roads in the Far East. You, in Moscow and central Russia, have a large, ramified road system. We have, in fact, one track. Plus a mountain range. Therefore, land that is not occupied by agriculture and which can be reached normally is almost always occupied.”

The remark is correct, notes Prokofiyev, but it is in this case that the “ritual approach” of the authorities to such projects is visible.

As the authors of the article “The Far Eastern Hectare Program: ritualization of the development machine” write:

“The initiation of the program began with a survey of Russians, ... which in itself has already become part of many bureaucratic rituals. This kind of practice is the rationale for a political decision (changing rules, taking action, etc.) through a symbolic appeal to the needs of "ordinary people" and includes an appeal to an authoritative source. This should both increase the credibility of the initiator of the decision, and, in some way, remove substantive questions about the actions taken in the future. The very essence of the program - the "gift" of the state to the people, the free distribution of "property" - also bears the imprint of ritualism. So who is the message for? What is offered in return for the "feat" of the participants?

In other words, from ... the text of the law itself, the documents accompanying it, and the statements of representatives of the structures that support it, it follows that the state expects some kind of complicity, an initiative movement of citizens to the east for the development and accelerated development of the peripheries, and land is offered in exchange for complicity, which is discursively framed as the social concern of the state for its citizens…”

No man - no development

For his part, political scientist Alexander Saigin adds:

“At some point, the Far Eastern Hectare became part of the wider Arctic Hectare program. And that's where it got interesting. As far as I know, at the end of 2021, the "Arctic hectare" was most popular in the Murmansk region. That is, again a choice in favor of Europe and a bet on those territories where there are still more people. So, at least give away a thousand hectares for free. If there are no people, there will be no development…”