Interrelations between geography and government

Abstract

Geography in its long evolution has gone from a reference and a descriptive discipline concerning the places and distances to the complex science about spatial regularities in the system of nature and society. In this evolution there are objective laws, but it heavily depends on social conditions and the nature of power: hence the uneven alternating periods of ups and downs. In Russian history there were several periods when the government understood and appreciated the importance of geography, which could not be unproductive for the science. The conditions in the Soviet era were contradictory: on the one hand, the strong recovery of the productive forces of the economy, which was accompanied by establishing the system of state scientific centres of geographical research and training of geographers, on the other hand - ideologization of science, restricting the freedom of scientific views, down to the repression of Stalin's dictatorship. The post-Soviet era for last 25 years has led to great difficulties and unpredictability of further development of science in the country. The primary goal now is the promotion of geography and propaganda of the comprehensive geographical method of scientific research.