ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the way Western scholars approach four basic issues: one, how to define "equality"; two, how to select data to measure regional disparities; three, how to choose statistical procedures to evaluate regional data; and four, how to assign meaning or significance to the results. It concentrates on the fifteen union republics, the major political units in the Soviet federation and the ones most heavily emphasized in Western research. The chapter also concentrates on the most disparate cases to show that even slight differences in research strategies have a profound effect on conclusions about Soviet regional development. It reanalyzes a few examples simply to show that the choice of data alone can lead to contradictory conclusions about the progress of equalization, even when the data—;;as in the case of urbanization, education, or appropriations—;;presumably measure the same thing. The chapter reviews the most pessimistic assessments of Soviet efforts and successes in promoting regional equality are too pessimistic.