ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to big changes that are taking place in Russia. These changes encompass administrative and resource policy, the interaction between business and federal authorities, regional opportunities to use money from resource development and changes in attitude to indigenous peoples in their struggle for rights to land and natural resources. The processes of change in Russia are similar to those that have taken place in many Western countries over the last two centuries. For Russia, the changes are compressed in time. This is the case for both changes within the government and legislative body, and those within communities and business. People and institutions have to adapt very quickly to new rules and requirements, and simultaneously, have to build new relationships and responses to change. This transformation process is not always smooth, and contradictions and conflicts often arise.
