Challenges of environmental security in regional policy (on the example of the Lipetsk region)

Yelets State Ivan Bunin University, st. Kommunarov, 28, 399770 Yelets, Russia

^* Corresponding author: pisatels@mail.ru

Abstract

This article deals with how environmental problems within a separate subject of the Russian Federation are associated with the legitimacy of regional political power. The case of the Lipetsk region is taken as an example. The economic profile of the region includes a combination of a number of large enterprises and agricultural holdings. Enterprises are represented in cities, while agricultural holdings are represented in rural provinces. But all of them are potential sources of environmental problems. Using the case study method and the comparative method, the author tries to study the extent to which the regional administration controls the challenges of economic security. The author highlights a number of environmental problems and shows how they could be consistently updated during the reign of 3 governors of the Lipetsk region - Mikhail Narolin, Oleg Korolev and Igor Artamonov. Referring to the materials of a number of Russian researchers, the author shows how unique the case of the Lipetsk region can be. The situation in the Lipetsk region is compared with the experience of other regions, where major environmental problems were actualized, which contributed to the formation of the protest agenda.