State Environmental Ideology: from Tsarist Empire to Sustainable Russia

• Author: Elena Gladun - Olga Zakharova
• Position: Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)
• Pages: 39-64

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 4

STaTE EnVIRonMEnTaL IDEoLoGY:

FRoM TSaRIST EMPIRE To SuSTaInaBLE RuSSIa

ELENA GLADUN,

Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)

OLGA ZAKHAROVA,

Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)

DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2017-4-4-39-64

The main approach to the relationship between mankind and the natural environment

is sustainable development which has increasingly found its way into the context of

environmental legislation. The ecacy and scope of Russian environmental legislation

varied during dierent per iods throughout the history of the co untry and depended

to a great extent on the state ideology which at the time shaped public opinion and

environmental awareness. Russian environmental ideology has proven to be inconsistent

and contradictory, because it is based on a dual historical tradition: a pre-revolutionary

and Soviet pattern.

Environmental ideology in its historical perspective has always remained on the periphery

of scholarly attention in Russia. This paper is an analysis of the basic domains of the state

environmental ideology with the focus on changes that happened in the periods of the

Great October Socialist Revolution and the 1990s when the country was transitioning to

a new democratic state. The study of the historical peculiarities of the state environmental

ideology can contribute to assessing how much Russia has progressed in achieving

ecient legal regulation of environmental use and protection.

The hypothesis is that the diculties in the transition of the Russian Federation to

sustainable development are caused by the failure of the state to form a holistic and

ecient environmental ideology that can serve as an adequate background for the

development and implementation of legal norms.

Keywords: state environmental ideology; Russian environmental legislation; sustainable

development.

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 4 40

Recommended citation: Elena Gladun & Olga Zakharova, State Environmental

Ideology: From Tsarist Empire to Sustainable Russia, 4(4) BRICS Law Journal 39–64

(2017).

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Formation of the State Environmental Ideology Prior

to the October Revolution

2. Opposite Vector of the State Environmental Ideology in the Soviet Period

3. Ideology of Sustainable Development of the Modern Period

Conclusion

Introduction

Environmental problems require immediate and eective solutions based on

a deeper understanding of their political, economic and social background. The

environmental problems of Russia have deep historical roots based on a “resource”

or “consumerist” approach to the economic development of the country. When

it comes to the environmental interests of key actors and the political leadership

in Russia, it is dicult to evaluate how willing the Russian government is to solve

environmental problems, regardless of the recent increased political attention to

sustainable development in the country.

Throughout its histor y, Russian society has been characterized by a specic

attitude towards nature that tracked with the arbitrary state policy and regime in

power. The geographical size of the country has always bred a strong belief in the

abundance of natural resources. This vision of the country’s resources is combined

with historical optimism and underpins the condence in constant progress and

technological development instead of the need to change existing patterns of

thought.1 Even recent environmental programs and initiatives, for example, the

Environmental Concept initiated in 2009, are well in line with this attitude, and

focus mostly on innovation and technological development of the country, not on

its sustainable development.

In Russia, most people also believe that natural resources are inexhaustible. One

popular slogan stated:

We can’t wait for charity from nature, we must conquer it.

1 Nina Tynkkynen, Russia, A Great Ecological Power? On Russian Attitudes to Environmental Politics at Home

and Abroad in Understanding Russian Nature: Representations, Values and Concepts 277 (A. Rosenholm &

S. Autio-Sarasmo (eds.), Helsinki: Kikimora Publications, 2005).