Political Problems: The Geographical Dimension

Abstract

The place-names in Pravda’s editorials suggest something about where the problems regarded as urgent by the leadership are located and where remedial measures are thought to be necessary. Although geographical names are sometimes chosen merely as examples and criticism of a particular region is often intended as a mere general memento, it is of interest to determine which ‘problem areas’ the newspaper identifies. To get an idea of the geographical problem map, therefore, we have sorted the material according to mentions of various administrative areas. A first search produced all items containing a reference to republics, a second extracted those mentioning regions, territories and districts. In the latter search identifiable cities, districts and enterprises were traced to their respective regions. Thus by combining the republican and regional materials it became possible to look at large aggregates and republics or economic areas in which all items either mentioned the aggregate by name or identified any of its parts.