Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Resource Economics

Dissertation of Yuliana Griewald

Russian agri-food system in a context of social-ecological change: an institutional analysis

Start: November 2013
End: July 2017

 

My research project centres around post-Soviet transformations of institutions and governance structures in the Russian agri-food sector. At the example of the Tyumen region in West Siberia, I explore the ‘rules of the game’ and the actual institutional arrangements among various agri-food actors as they have evolved since the breakup of the USSR in 1991. Within this broader topic, I concentrate particularly on three aspects united by a carefully developed analytical framework. First, I investigate the mechanisms of current state-farm interactions regarding farm and land management, trying to grasp the role of the state in present-day farming – a central element in a post-Soviet context. Second, I examine the case of grain marketing, from which the state has withdrawn early in the transition, looking into why different grain marketing contracts co-exist and how well they fit the local agri-food context. Third, I conduct a stakeholder-supported analysis of land use scenarios for the region, aiming to assess opportunities for robust agrarian institutions as well as to locate the role of the state in their development. Semi-structured interviews, a stakeholder workshop and a document analysis build the basis for a qualitative research approach.

 

Researcher: Griewald, Yuliana

Cooperation Partner: Tyumen State University, Tyumen, Russia

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Konrad Hagedorn

Funding: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)