The Persistence of Poverty in Rural Russia A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Consequences of the Agrarian Reforms and the Causes of Poverty among the Agrarian Population in Russia in the period 1992-2014

Russia has witnessed a dramatic rise of poverty in the wake of the country´s transition from a command to a market economy. Poverty rates skyrocketed in the 1990s as a result of the abrupt reforms initiated by the Yeltsin administration. The agrarian sector was among the first economic sectors subjected to radical restructuring, aiming at the liquidation of state and collective agricultural organisations and their replacement with private family farms. Meanwhile, the consequences of this enforced restructuring proved catastrophic for agriculture. Agricultural output fell by almost a half, rural incomes declined dramatically and the living standard of rural population deteriorated. The Putin government set agriculture and the social development of the countryside as priority projects. Indeed, this resulted in a sound rebound of the agricultural sector the last decade. However, rural poverty declines in a much slower pace than urban poverty. As a consequence, although overall poverty is declining, the share of poor that are concentrated in the countryside has grown. For many rural areas, outmigration constitutes the only way to exit from poverty. This master thesis investigates, through the lenses of Critical Discourse Analysis, the impact of the reforms on the socio-economic organisation of rural communities. It lays special focus on the interplay between structure and agent, constrains and opportunities. The discourses on the agrarian reforms, rural society and rural poverty as they appear on multiple levels (national, political, local, individual), are examined against the backdrop of their social context in order to highlight the processes that contribute to the persistence of poverty. The argument of this thesis is that the Yeltsin reforms, articulated within a predominantly neoliberal political agenda, did not take in consideration the specificities of Russian agriculture and of the Russian rural community organisation. Contrary to their articulated objective, they brought about inefficient practices that led to the downsizing of Russian agriculture and impoverishment of the rural population. Although agricultural policies during Putin´s rule enhanced the performance of the agrarian sector, did not succeed in overcoming many of the structural constrains that impede the participation of the rural population into modern forms of production and their succesful integration in the market