АУТОР / AUTHOR(S): Linar Imangulov 
, Sergey Safronov , Maria Savoskul
DOI: 10.46793/CSGE5.46LI
САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:
The report will highlight the post-Soviet features of the transformation of rural areas of one Russian mountainous agricultural region with high ethnocultural population diversity, using the example of the Republic of Dagestan. Data sources: open statistical databases, field studies, and interview results. To collect data, the authors of the report organized five expeditions in 2020–2024, surveyed 12 districts, and more than 100 settlements. Transformation processes in the mountainous territories of Dagestan occur under the influence of natural-geographical and center-peripheral factors of transformation, as well as the incomplete demographic transition of the population in combination with the increased role of ethnic traditionalism. Along with common features characteristic of other regions of Russia (for example, depopulation, increased mobility of the population), the transformation of rural areas of Dagestan has its own characteristics. The high intraregional diversity of rural areas is associated with different combinations of territorial characteristics. For example, the orographic diversity of Dagestan complicates the center-periphery picture typical of the lowland regions of Russia. Along with suburban municipalities, other prosperous rural municipalities are also distinguished—foothill areas and some mid-mountain basins. In the first, there is an opportunity to engage in agriculture and other activities, and secondly, there is a migration influx of people from high mountain settlements. The article presents a map with natural and socio-economic types of rural areas of Dagestan and describes scenarios for the socio-economic transformation of rural areas using the example of key areas of the main macro-regions. Scenarios for the transformation of rural areas: “inertial” and “modernization”. Ethnocultural and religious factors are responsible for the preservation and reproduction of traditional social connections and relationships. They affect the stability of rural settlement, population dynamics, and reproduction of communities. For example, the mountainous Avar regions of northwestern Dagestan have a stable number of permanent residents and real post-Soviet population growth. In the predominantly Lezgin regions of Southern Dagestan, the situation is different and similar mechanisms work much weaker. Scenarios for the rural areas transformation demonstrate the clear juxtaposition of the archaization processes and modernization of the economy and society in the republic.
КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:
rural settlement; local rural-urban systems; typology of rural areas; mountainous
areas; North Caucasus