Ilya Samuilovich Gurvich on the policy of paternalism in relation to the indigenous peoples of the North

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2020-51-3/30-40

Abstract

I.S. Gurvich's research on the policy of paternalism in relation to the indigenous peoples of the North is now becoming relevant in the context of the contemporary discussion. Gurvich acknowledged that the Soviet policy of paternalism in the first place gave priority to the public interest. Nonetheless, at the same time, he was convinced that the contemporary principles of public administration were at the same time focused on meeting the needs of the indigenous population of the North and on the harmonious matching of these needs with the interests of the centralized power. It was the consistency of interests and needs of the subject and the object of management that, in his opinion, ensured the effectiveness of the Soviet policy and warranted its consolidated support from the population. Gurvich believed that the modernization of the culture of the indigenous peoples of the North was a reliable means of implementing the equality of all peoples, proclaimed in the country, and believed that achieving this equality was in demand among the indigenous population of the North. The researcher was convinced that the future does not lie in the preservation of traditional aspects of culture, but in the development of ethnic culture in the context of inevitable socio-cultural transformations. Gurvich’s research proves the inevitability and necessity of introducing the indigenous people of the North to the cultural achievements of other peoples, which, without detracting from their ethnic identity, contributes to their socio-cultural integration within both individual regions and the entire country.

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