GIS SUPPORT OF THE MONITORING OF INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS IN RUSSIA

Abstract

The article discusses the approaches to creation of GIS software in the field of monitoring and early warning of ethnic and ethno-religious conflicts. Strategic tasks of the monitoring for management purposes in the domestic sphere by federal, regional and municipal authorities are analyzed. The lack of objective data is the major problem with the creation of a monitoring system in the sphere of inter-ethnic relations in Russia. It could be solved by using the diversified sources of information (media, surveys, departmental statistics, etc.) and implementation of an «ethno-religious passport of a municipal entity». Collection of municipal level data is a prerequisite for efficient functioning of the system. At this level it is possible to predict the local ethnic conflicts and propose the most effective ways of resolving them. Basing on the use of GIS the analytical skills of a system are developed which provide for the search of potentially hazardous areas in terms of the emergence and escalation of conflicts, definition of the areas of compact and mixed living of different peoples, comprehensive evaluation of the impact of socioeconomic and migration processes on the nature of inter-ethnic relations etc. The basis of the monitoring system is a multiscale principle, which makes it possible to uniform the collection and analysis of information for all levels of administrative-territorial division of the Russian Federation, i.e. municipality (first and second order), region, federal district, and country. The analysis based on the proposed monitoring system showed that 20% of the RF subjects are under threat of rising ethnic tensions. First of all it concerns Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as the regions within the 300 km zone of influence of the capital.