Andrey N. Petrov
This paper lays the ground for re-tracing and re-examining the 20th century discourses of regional development in the Russian and Canadian North. Comparing development paths of the two Norths in the 20th century, it is appropriate to ask whether these distinctions and commonalities stem from similarities and differences between development discourses in these regions. The paper explores the history of the 20th century development ‘projects’ in Canada and Russia/USSR focusing on the relationship between state-promoted modernization discourses, power, and development. In doing so, it also investigates the link between social construction and material production of the North. It argues that both development trajectories bear a considerable level of similarity attributable to the types of discourses that empowered the development policies in the 20th century. At the same time, it identifies differences which led to the divergence of development paths of the Canadian vs. Russian North.
