Problems of municipal social policy implementation in rural settlements of the Russian Arctic: A case study of the Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region

This article examines the social policy of rural municipalities in the Russian Arctic. Municipal social policy is a system of goals, objectives, and implementation mechanisms aimed at providing social services to the local population and fostering the social sphere within a municipality. It is shaped by the key vectors of the state’s social policy and is implemented through collaboration between local governments and public authorities, primarily those of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Despite the toponymic coherence, the Russian Arctic is characterized by territorial diversity, presenting a challenge for municipal social policy and underscoring the importance of analyzing its implementation practices. The study aims to pinpoint problems associated with the execution of municipal social policy. The novelty of the study lies in conducting, for the first time, a sociological analysis of the practice of implementing social policy at the level of rural municipalities in the Russian Arctic. The study was performed in the Primorsky Municipal District of the Arkhangelsk region, using the method of high-quality semi-structured interviews with key actors in social policy. The data obtained were compared with the findings from an analysis of regulations on municipal social policy, thereby identifying the principal issues linked to its implementation in rural settlements. These issues include the prioritization of single-industry (agricultural) production, the uneven development of rural settlements within demographic, socio-economic, and socio-cultural domains, and the lack of reliable information on the scale of socio-economic problems in the municipalities under consideration. To address these issues, the article proposes employing new approaches to formulating municipal social policy, grounded in scientific methods for analyzing social problems in rural areas of the Russian Arctic and devising measures for targeted social support of the population. An important aspect of municipal social policy is providing support to local authorities in fostering culture and tourism initiatives, which will catalyze other economic activities. The results of this study can serve as a foundation for further theoretical inquiries into municipal social policy. They can also inform decision- making in the domain of social policy at the regional and municipal levels in the Russian Arctic.