The civilizational role of Russian people in the development of the Russia’s southern regions through the prism of ethno-demographic dynamics

The article examines the share of the Russian ethnos in the ethnodemographic structure of the south of Russia for a period of 300 years, and investigates changes in the relative proportion of Russians and representatives of the titular peoples in the respective administrative units over time. The geographical scope of the study covers the North Caucasus region as well as some adjacent territories, taking into consideration the changes that occurred in Russia’s administrative division. In particular, the article is based on the materials of audits and population censuses in the Russian Empire (1897) and the USSR (1926, 1939, 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989) as well as in the Russian Federation (2002, 2010). Methodologically, the present study correlates civilizational approach theory with an empirical study of ethno-demographic processes. The authors advance the theory that civilizational ups and downs correlate with the dynamics of migration by the civilization-forming people, and with their settling in the ethnic periphery. The article argues that in the regional ethnic make-up, the share of Russians, as the civilization-forming people, reflects the region’s degree of integration in the Russian civilizational system. In particular, a clear correlation is visible between the descending phase of the Soviet project and the decrease of representatives of the Russian ethnos in the national and administrative entities of the region. Given that over centuries Russia developed as a multinational state - as a state-civilization kept together by the Russian people at its center - the authors emphasize the need to strengthen Russia’s statehood