Polish and Russian rural areas in transition. Land and demography

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the main changes in the structure of the space and demographic processes of rural areas in Poland and Russia, taking place after 1990. Though both countries are completely different (e.g. as for the perspective of scale, the position in the international arena, the forms of agricultural production, etc.), they were subjected – within a similar period of time – to the systemic change and are faced with multiple problems of the socio-economic transition period. The terms of the environment, including mainly political, but also historical and cultural factors, caused that Poland and Russia have chosen other paths of transformation, yielding diverse results. Above all, the two countries perceive the role of the rural areas in the society in a different way.