Youth law, policies and their implementation in the Russian Arctic

This chapter introduces the main features of Russian youth policy and focuses on how it is being implemented in the territories classified as the Arctic zone by Russian law. While Russia does not have a specific law on youth or on the Arctic, both are strategically important for the development of the country, and numerous legal and political measures are implemented for youth in the Arctic. The chapter analyses three levels of regulation pertaining to youth in the Arctic, reflecting the organizational levels of the Russian state, that is, the federal, regional and municipal. We first trace how the main principles of national youth policy are interpreted differently in the regional administrative units of the Arctic. We then illustrate the implementation of particular municipal programmes through case studies from the cities of Neryungri (Yakutia), Novy Urengoy (Yamal), and Kirovsk/Apatity (Murmansk Region). We conclude that Russian law cannot currently handle the challenges facing Arctic youth, because it is too fragmented and antiquated. Furthermore, funding is lacking for its implementation, rendering some legislation tokenistic in nature and limited in effect. Federal laws on youth and the Arctic might solve that problem if backed by budget programmes. In the region, the main focus of youth policy is producing qualified personnel for the extractive industries, a focus too narrow to make the Arctic attractive enough to youth as place in which to realize their dreams. However, our cases show that there is more agency in Russia’s Arctic regions than the image of a strong centralized federal state with a strong president might suggest.