The international political economy of the agrifood question in Russia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5752/P.2317-773X.2023v11n3p50-71Keywords:
Russia, Agribusiness, Family Farming, Food Security, GeopoliticsAbstract
The article analyses the transformations, trends, and contradictions of the Russian agri-food system and its far-reaching global implications. The analysis employs the theoretical-methodological framework of international political economy applied to the study of agriculture and food. The argument sustained in the article is that recent economic, social, and political dynamics in Russia largely respond to the challenges triggered by the shift from the classic ‘agrarian question’ to the contemporary ‘agri-food question’. The agri-food question encompasses three major problematics: capital accumulation, social reproduction, and political power. The research draws on a comprehensive review of specialized and qualified literature, as well as relevant official documents and statistical data, both from Russian and international sources. The analysis of the agri-food question proves to be quite fertile to examine the recent trajectory of development and power projection of Russia and its insertion in the contemporary international food regime, calling attention to the opening of a formidable, but still little explored, research agenda in international political economy.
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References
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BERNSTEIN, H. The peasant problem in the Russian revolution(s), 1905-1929. Journal of Peasant Studies, 45(5-7): 1127-1150, 2018.
BYRES, T. J. The agrarian question, forms of capitalist agrarian transition and the state: An essay with reference to Asia. Social Scientist, v.14, n.11/12, p.3-67, 1986.
CHENG, M. The Ukraine crisis: Causes, conundrum and consequences. Journal of Social and Political Sciences, v.5, n.2, p.96-111, 2022.
DZHANCHAROVAL, G. K.; BOLAEV, B. K.; MURTAZOVA, K. M. S. Research of Russian meat export to the Chinese market. Earth and Environmental Science, n.848, p.1-9, 2021.
DZHANCHAROVAL, G. K.; ILYASOV, R. H.; ROMADIKOVA, V. M. Assessment of export potential of the Russian agro-industrial complex. Earth and Environmental Science, n.981, p.1-7, 2022.
DBO. CNA analisa impactos do conflito entre Rússia e Ucrânia no agro. 31 de maio de 2022. In: https://www.portaldbo.com.br/cna-analisa-impactos-do-conflito-entre-russia-e-ucrania-no-agro/ Acesso em 01 out. 2022.
ESCHER, F. Variedades de capitalismo nos BRICS: Uma perspectiva agroalimentar. Revista Brasileira de Sociologia, v.9, n.22, p.75-110, 2021.
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LANDER, C. D. Foreign investment adaptations to the changing political and economic environments of the agro-food sector: A Case Study of Cargill Russia. Problems of Post-Communism, v.65, n.3, p.201-219, 2018.
LENIN, V. I. The development of capitalism in Russia. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1977.
LIMA, F. C. As revoluções passivas neoliberais no pós-URSS: Semelhanças e singularidades entre o caos neoliberal russo e ucraniano na década de 1990. Conjuntura Austral, v.10, n.50, p.67-83, 2019.
LIMA, T.; DIAS, A. Segurança alimentar russa: estratégia de autonomia para uma estrutura internacional de incertezas. Revista Brasileira de Estudos de Defesa, v.5, n.1, p.273-294, 2018.
LUKIN, A. The Russia–China entente and its future. International Politics, v.58, p.363–380, 2021.
MAMONOVA, N. V. Rethinking rural politics in post-socialist settings: Rural communities, land grabbing and agrarian change in Russia and Ukraine. PhD Thesis, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 2016.
MAMONOVA, N. V. Understanding the silent majority in authoritarian populism: What can we learn from popular support for Putin in rural Russia? Journal of Peasant Studies, v.46, n.3, p.561-585, 2019.
MATVEEV, I. Between political and economic imperialism: Russia’s shifting global strategy. Journal of Labor and Society, p.1-22, 2021 (online first).
MCMICHAEL, P. A food regime genealogy. Journal of Peasant Studies, v.36, n.1, p.139-169, 2009.
MEDEIROS, C. A. A economia política da transição na Rússia. In: ALVES, A. G. M. P. (Ed.) Uma longa transição: Vinte anos de transformação na Rússia. Brasília: IPEA, 2011.
MOORE JR., B. As origens sociais da ditadura e da democracia: Senhores e camponeses na construção do mundo moderno. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1983.
NIEDERLE, P.; KURAKIN, A.; NIKULIN, A.; SCHNEIDER, S. Soy’s king and wheat’s queen: State intervention and the meaning of leading monocultures in Brazilian and Russian agrarian histories. Sociologies in Dialogue, v.4, n.1, p.26-52, 2018.
PALLOT, J.; NEFEDOVA, T. Russia’s unknown agriculture: Household production in post-socialist rural Russia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
REQUIÃO, R. G.; GONÇALVES, F. S. Z. Rússia. In: GILIO, L.; JANK, M. S. O Brasil no agro global: Reflexões sobre a inserção do agronegócio brasileiro nas principais macrorregiões do planeta. São Paulo: Insper, 2021.
ROSSTAT – Federal State Statistics Service. Russian statistical yearbook. Moscow: ROSSTAT, 2020.
ROSSTAT – Federal State Statistics Service. Results of the All-Russian Agricultural Census of 2016. Book 1. Moscow: ROSSTAT, 2018.
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SOLODOVA, S. V.; SIGIDOV, Y. I.; ILYASOV, R. H. Issues of implementation of control indicators of the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation. Earth and Environmental Science, n.839, p.1-8, 2021.
SUMMERS, C.; GOODMAN, S. Weaponizing wheat: Russia's next weapon in pandemic and climate eras. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, v.21, p.62-70, 2020.
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UZUN, V.; SHAGAIDA, N.; LERMAN, Z. Russian agriculture: Growth and institutional challenges. Land Use Policy, v.83, p.475-487, 2019.
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VISSER, O.; KURAKIN, A.; NIKULIN, A. Corporate social responsibility, coexistence and contestation: large farms’ changing responsibilities vis-à-vis rural households in Russia. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, v.40, n.4, p.580-59, 2019.
VISSER, O.; SPOOR, M.; MAMONOVA, N. Is Russia the emerging global ‘breadbasket’? Re-cultivation, agroholdings and grain production. Europe-Asia Studies, v.66, n.10, p.1589–1610, 2014.
VISSER, O.; MAMONOVA, N.; SPOOR, M. Oligarchs, megafarms and land reserves: Understanding land grabbing in Russia. Journal of Peasant Studies, v.39, n.3-4, p.899-931, 2012.
VORBRUGG, A. Not about land, not quite a grab: Dispersed dispossession in rural Russia. Antipode, v.51, n.3, p.1011–1131, 2019.
WEGREN, S. K.; NIKULIN, A. M.; TROTSUK, I. Russia’s food revolution: The transformation of the food system. London: Routledge, 2021.
WEGREN, S. K. History, prospects, and scenarios for smallholders in Russia. In: HORVÁTH, D. (Ed). Opportunities and challenges of smallholders and smallholding. New York: Nova Science, 2021.
WEGREN, S. K. The “left behind”: Smallholders in contemporary Russian agriculture. Journal of Agrarian Change, v.18, n.4, p.913-925, 2018.
WEGREN, S. K.; NIELSEN, F. (Eds). Russia’s role in the contemporary international agri-food trade system. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.
WEGREN, S. K.; NILSSEN, F. Russia’s changing role in the international agri-food system and why it matters. Post-Communist Economies, v.33, n.8, p.939-968, 2021.
WENGLE, S. A. Agroholdings, technology and the political economy of Russian agri-culture. Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, v.13, n.1, p.57–80, 2021.
WOLF, E. Guerras camponesas no século XX. São Paulo: Global, 1984.
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YANBYKHA, R.; SARAIKINA, V.; LERMAN, Z. Changes in Russia’s agrarian structure: What can we learn from agricultural census? Russian Journal of Economics, v.6, p.26–41, 2020.
ZHANG, H. The US-China trade war: Is food China’s most powerful weapon? Asia Policy, v.15, n.3, p.59–86, 2020.
BBC. Guerra na Ucrânia: por que o Brasil depende tanto dos fertilizantes da Rússia? 03 de março de 2022. In: https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-60596334 Acesso em 01 out. 2022.
BALANOVA, Y. A.; SHALNOVA, S. A.; DEEV, A. D.; IMAEVA, A. E; KONTSEVAYA, A. V.; MUROMTSEVA, G. A.; KAPUSTINA, A. V. EVSTIFEEVA, S. E.; DRAPKINA, O. M. Obesity in Russian population: Prevalence and association with the non-communicable diseases risk factors. Russian Journal of Cardiology, v.6, p.123-130, 2018.
BERNSTEIN, H. The peasant problem in the Russian revolution(s), 1905-1929. Journal of Peasant Studies, 45(5-7): 1127-1150, 2018.
BYRES, T. J. The agrarian question, forms of capitalist agrarian transition and the state: An essay with reference to Asia. Social Scientist, v.14, n.11/12, p.3-67, 1986.
CHENG, M. The Ukraine crisis: Causes, conundrum and consequences. Journal of Social and Political Sciences, v.5, n.2, p.96-111, 2022.
DZHANCHAROVAL, G. K.; BOLAEV, B. K.; MURTAZOVA, K. M. S. Research of Russian meat export to the Chinese market. Earth and Environmental Science, n.848, p.1-9, 2021.
DZHANCHAROVAL, G. K.; ILYASOV, R. H.; ROMADIKOVA, V. M. Assessment of export potential of the Russian agro-industrial complex. Earth and Environmental Science, n.981, p.1-7, 2022.
DBO. CNA analisa impactos do conflito entre Rússia e Ucrânia no agro. 31 de maio de 2022. In: https://www.portaldbo.com.br/cna-analisa-impactos-do-conflito-entre-russia-e-ucrania-no-agro/ Acesso em 01 out. 2022.
ESCHER, F. Variedades de capitalismo nos BRICS: Uma perspectiva agroalimentar. Revista Brasileira de Sociologia, v.9, n.22, p.75-110, 2021.
ESCHER, F.; WILKINSON J.; PEREIRA, P.R. F. Causas e implicações dos investimentos chineses no agronegócio brasileiro. In: JAGUARIBE, A. (Ed). Direction of Chinese global investments: Implications for Brazil. Brasília: FUNAG, 2018. p.289-336.
ESTADÃO. Guerra na Ucrânia: quais são as projeções para a safra de grãos? 09 de maio de 2022. In: https://summitagro.estadao.com.br/noticias-do-campo/guerra-na-ucrania-quais-sao-as-projecoes-para-a-safra-de-graos/ Acesso em 01 out. 2022.
EVTEEVA, T.; ROVNÝ, P.; PETRIĽÁK, M. Farm as a form of small agricultural business in Russia: Advantages and disadvantages. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge, v.7, n.2, p.53-62, 2019.
FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization. Information note: The importance of Ukraine and the Russian Federation for global agricultural markets and the risks associated with the current conflict. FAO: Rome, 2022.
FRIEDMANN, H. Discussion. Moving food regimes forward: Reflections on symposium essays. Agriculture and Human Values, v.26, n.4, p.335-344, 2009.
FRIEDMANN, H.; MCMICHAEL, P. Agriculture and the state system: The rise and fall of national agricultures, 1870 to the present. Sociologia Ruralis, v.29, n.2, p.93-117, 1989.
GRANBERG, L.; SÄTRE, A. M. The other Russia: Local experience and societal change. London: Routledge, 2016.
GERSCHENKRON, A. O atraso econômico em perspectiva histórica e outros ensaios. Rio de Janeiro: Contraponto, 2015.
GROUIEZ, P. Understanding agro-holdings in Russia: A Commonsian analysis. Journal of Economic Issues, v.52, n.4, p.1010-1035, 2018.
INSTITUTO FOME ZERO – IFZ. Fome no Brasil pode sentir efeitos da guerra na Ucrânia. 06 de abril de 2022. In: https://ifz.org.br/2022/04/06/fome-no-brasil-pode-sentir-efeitos-da-guerra-na-ucrania/ Acesso em 01 out. 2022.
KRAUSMANN, F.; LANGTHALER, E. Food regimes and their trade links: A socio-ecological perspective. Ecological Economics, n.160, p.87-95, 2019.
KREMLIN. Joint statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the international relations entering a new era and the global sustainable development. Moscow, February 4, 2022: http://en.kremlin.ru/supplement/5770. Acesso em 19 jul. 2022.
LANDER, C. D. Foreign investment adaptations to the changing political and economic environments of the agro-food sector: A Case Study of Cargill Russia. Problems of Post-Communism, v.65, n.3, p.201-219, 2018.
LENIN, V. I. The development of capitalism in Russia. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1977.
LIMA, F. C. As revoluções passivas neoliberais no pós-URSS: Semelhanças e singularidades entre o caos neoliberal russo e ucraniano na década de 1990. Conjuntura Austral, v.10, n.50, p.67-83, 2019.
LIMA, T.; DIAS, A. Segurança alimentar russa: estratégia de autonomia para uma estrutura internacional de incertezas. Revista Brasileira de Estudos de Defesa, v.5, n.1, p.273-294, 2018.
LUKIN, A. The Russia–China entente and its future. International Politics, v.58, p.363–380, 2021.
MAMONOVA, N. V. Rethinking rural politics in post-socialist settings: Rural communities, land grabbing and agrarian change in Russia and Ukraine. PhD Thesis, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 2016.
MAMONOVA, N. V. Understanding the silent majority in authoritarian populism: What can we learn from popular support for Putin in rural Russia? Journal of Peasant Studies, v.46, n.3, p.561-585, 2019.
MATVEEV, I. Between political and economic imperialism: Russia’s shifting global strategy. Journal of Labor and Society, p.1-22, 2021 (online first).
MCMICHAEL, P. A food regime genealogy. Journal of Peasant Studies, v.36, n.1, p.139-169, 2009.
MEDEIROS, C. A. A economia política da transição na Rússia. In: ALVES, A. G. M. P. (Ed.) Uma longa transição: Vinte anos de transformação na Rússia. Brasília: IPEA, 2011.
MOORE JR., B. As origens sociais da ditadura e da democracia: Senhores e camponeses na construção do mundo moderno. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1983.
NIEDERLE, P.; KURAKIN, A.; NIKULIN, A.; SCHNEIDER, S. Soy’s king and wheat’s queen: State intervention and the meaning of leading monocultures in Brazilian and Russian agrarian histories. Sociologies in Dialogue, v.4, n.1, p.26-52, 2018.
PALLOT, J.; NEFEDOVA, T. Russia’s unknown agriculture: Household production in post-socialist rural Russia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
REQUIÃO, R. G.; GONÇALVES, F. S. Z. Rússia. In: GILIO, L.; JANK, M. S. O Brasil no agro global: Reflexões sobre a inserção do agronegócio brasileiro nas principais macrorregiões do planeta. São Paulo: Insper, 2021.
ROSSTAT – Federal State Statistics Service. Russian statistical yearbook. Moscow: ROSSTAT, 2020.
ROSSTAT – Federal State Statistics Service. Results of the All-Russian Agricultural Census of 2016. Book 1. Moscow: ROSSTAT, 2018.
SHANIN, T. Russia as a developing society. The roots of otherness: Russia’s turn of the century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.
SOLODOVA, S. V.; SIGIDOV, Y. I.; ILYASOV, R. H. Issues of implementation of control indicators of the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation. Earth and Environmental Science, n.839, p.1-8, 2021.
SUMMERS, C.; GOODMAN, S. Weaponizing wheat: Russia's next weapon in pandemic and climate eras. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, v.21, p.62-70, 2020.
TASS – Russian News Agency. Russia has enough food products to meet domestic needs - Medvedev. 01 de abril 2022. In: https://tass.com/economy/1431279. Acesso em 19 jul. 2022.
UZUN, V.; SHAGAIDA, N.; LERMAN, Z. Russian agroholdings and their role in agriculture. Post-Communist Economies, v,33, n.8, p.1035-1055, 2021.
UZUN, V.; SHAGAIDA, N.; LERMAN, Z. Russian agriculture: Growth and institutional challenges. Land Use Policy, v.83, p.475-487, 2019.
USDA – United States Department of Agriculture. 2022 International long-term projections to 2031. Washington: USDA, 2022.
USDA – United States Department of Agriculture. 2021/22 grain trade in flux amid Russia-Ukraine conflict. Washington: USDA, 2022a.
VISSER, O.; KURAKIN, A.; NIKULIN, A. Corporate social responsibility, coexistence and contestation: large farms’ changing responsibilities vis-à-vis rural households in Russia. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, v.40, n.4, p.580-59, 2019.
VISSER, O.; SPOOR, M.; MAMONOVA, N. Is Russia the emerging global ‘breadbasket’? Re-cultivation, agroholdings and grain production. Europe-Asia Studies, v.66, n.10, p.1589–1610, 2014.
VISSER, O.; MAMONOVA, N.; SPOOR, M. Oligarchs, megafarms and land reserves: Understanding land grabbing in Russia. Journal of Peasant Studies, v.39, n.3-4, p.899-931, 2012.
VORBRUGG, A. Not about land, not quite a grab: Dispersed dispossession in rural Russia. Antipode, v.51, n.3, p.1011–1131, 2019.
WEGREN, S. K.; NIKULIN, A. M.; TROTSUK, I. Russia’s food revolution: The transformation of the food system. London: Routledge, 2021.
WEGREN, S. K. History, prospects, and scenarios for smallholders in Russia. In: HORVÁTH, D. (Ed). Opportunities and challenges of smallholders and smallholding. New York: Nova Science, 2021.
WEGREN, S. K. The “left behind”: Smallholders in contemporary Russian agriculture. Journal of Agrarian Change, v.18, n.4, p.913-925, 2018.
WEGREN, S. K.; NIELSEN, F. (Eds). Russia’s role in the contemporary international agri-food trade system. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.
WEGREN, S. K.; NILSSEN, F. Russia’s changing role in the international agri-food system and why it matters. Post-Communist Economies, v.33, n.8, p.939-968, 2021.
WENGLE, S. A. Agroholdings, technology and the political economy of Russian agri-culture. Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, v.13, n.1, p.57–80, 2021.
WOLF, E. Guerras camponesas no século XX. São Paulo: Global, 1984.
WORLD BANK. Data. Washington: WB, 2022. In: https://data.worldbank.org/country/russian-federation. Acesso em 19 jul. 2022.
YANBYKHA, R.; SARAIKINA, V.; LERMAN, Z. Changes in Russia’s agrarian structure: What can we learn from agricultural census? Russian Journal of Economics, v.6, p.26–41, 2020.
ZHANG, H. The US-China trade war: Is food China’s most powerful weapon? Asia Policy, v.15, n.3, p.59–86, 2020.
Published
2024-08-20
How to Cite
Escher, F. (2024). The international political economy of the agrifood question in Russia . Estudos Internacionais: International Relations Journal of PUC Minas, 11(3), 50–71. https://doi.org/10.5752/P.2317-773X.2023v11n3p50-71
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Special Issue – Contemporary Russia in International Relations
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