Политология/2. Политическая конфликтология

PhD in Political Science Polyakov E.M.

Voronezh State University, Russia

The structural Violence in contemporary Russia:

A theoretical-methodological review

We can talk about structural violence whenever people die, are injured or have other deprivation due to poverty and injustice of social, economic and political institutions, systems or structures. The concept of structural violence was proposed by J. Haltung and T. Høivik [1, 73-76]. They also proposed to measure the structural violence relying on data on life expectancy.

Other scientists, G. Köhler and N.Alcock, proposed two models of measuring the magnitude of structural violence [2, 343]. They specify a null-model which represent a hypothetical state of affairs without structural violence, what required an answer for question: how many deaths would be avoided, if all countries enjoined the same living conditions as Sweden (the "Swedish model") or if the currently available global wealth had been equally distributed around the world (the "Egalitarian model")? G. Köhler and N.Alcock proposed the following formula to give an answer to a question, according to the Swedish model:

V1 = Pn / En – Pn / Es (Equation 1),

where Pn – the country's population N, En – life expectancy for country N, Es – Swedish life expectance [2, 345]. Based on this methodology and official statistics [3], try to calculate the proportion of structural violence in several regions of contemporary Russia. As a model we take the Republic of Ingushetia, because its population since 2000 and until now has the highest life expectancy. Slight deviation – second place after Dagestan in 2005 with a delay of 0.2 years can be attributed to statistical error, because in other years the difference was one year and even more in favor of Ingushetia.

So, for comparison, we take, in addition to Ingushetia, the data for the Sakhalin Oblast’, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, the Republic of Khakassia, and Russia as a whole (hereinafter - RI, SO, YaNAD, RKh and RF, respectively). These areas were selected because they have commensurate population, and the last three also have higher (compared with RI) urbanization levels and quality of life. Life expectancy in the regions is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Life expectancy in various areas, 2002–1012 years.

Area/Year	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
RI	73,0	75,2	76,1	74,1	74,7	76,3	77,8
SО	62,8	64,4	64,3	64,7	64,9	65,7	66,7
YaNAR	68,0	69,1	69,1	69,8	70,1	70,2	70,7
RH	64,4	66,1	66,4	67,1	67,1	67,8	67,7
RF	66,7	67,6	68,0	68,8	68,9	68,8	70,2

The population of each of the regions are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. The population of some regions of Russia, thousands people.

Area/Year	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
SО	521	513	510	505	501	497	495
YaNAR	517	522	524	523	524	525	537
RH	534	531	531	532	533	532	532
RF	143236	142863	142748	142737	142833	142865	143056

Substituting shown in Tables 1 and 2 data in Equation 1, we obtain the loss in population from structural violence in their respective regions for 2006-2012, presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Magnitude of structural violence in various areas, 2002–1012 years.

Area/Year	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
SО	1159	1144	1230	990	1013	1051	1059
YaNAR	521	613	667	335	460	598	687
RH	977	972	999	749	808	875	1020
RF	185.329	213.624	223.440	148.391	160.960	204.114	199.069

To imagine how dangerous structural violence direct armed violence comparable to the data in Table 3 official statistical information on the number of reported murders and attempted murders [4, 335-336].

Table 4. Number of reported murders and attempted murders.

Area/Year	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
SО	228	172	130	127	72
YaNAR	72	71	84	66	81
RH	142	104	104	81	73
RF	30.849	27.462	22.227	20.056	17.681

Thus, we see that the structural violence in modern Russia is a greater threat than any direct violence, even terrorist acts, at least an order of magnitude (on average). Accordingly, the main efforts of the state to decriminalize society and improvement of law enforcement situation in the country, should be aimed at minimizing the consequences of structural violence and equalization provisions in different regions of the country.

References:

1. Haltung J., Høivik T. Structural and Direct Violence: A Note on Operationalization // Journal of Peace Research, 1971, Vol. VIII, No 1.

2. Köhler G., and Alcock N. An Empirical Table of Structural Violence // Journal of Peace Research, 1976, Vol. XIII, No 4.

3. Here and further data on life expectancy in the Russian regions have been taken from Rosstat. Date Views 21.11.2013 http://www.gks.ru

4. Regions of Russia. Socio-economic indicators. 2011. Moscow: Rosstat, 2011.