ABSTRACT
Siberia is, to some extent, typical of all of Russia in terms of its social, economic, political, administrative, ethnic, cultural, and religious elements. Yet the region is distinctive because of the existence of so many indigenous people. Therefore, Siberia boasts a mixture of pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial systems. In Siberia Slavic, Asian, and Tatar-Mongolian people interact, while Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Shamanism exist together in one space. Siberia is changing through migration as some of its citizens leave to other parts of Russia and the West and others migrate there from Central Asian and South-East Asia. In the foreseeable future, it is possible that there will be areas of Siberia where Russians are an ethnic minority, as is currently the case in some parts of the North Caucasus. As the number of migrants grows, they can cause social and political tension, and provoke changes in ethnic identities. At the same time, though, they foster demographic and economic dynamism. All these trends put the regulation of migration processes at the top of Siberia’s agenda.
