Regional Political Regime as a Factor in Economic Growth: the Case of the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex in Belgorod and Voronezh Regions in 2000-2015

Research object – economic policy instruments as well as formal and informal political and economic institutions of Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts. Research subject – impact of political and economic institutions of Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts on the effectiveness of economic policies aimed at the stimulation of economic growth. Research question – which characteristics of regional institutions promoted effective realisation of policies aimed at the development of agro-industrial complex in Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts? Aim of the research – description of the main characteristics of regional industrial policy promoting agriculture development in two regions and evaluation of institutions’ contribution to the effectiveness of the state economic policy aimed at the development of agro-industrial complex. The following tasks were finished during the course of the thesis: • studying of the main approaches to the definition of economic growth; • scrutinising of the theoretic and methodological basis of the economic growth theory; • enumeration of the main forms of economic growth stimulation; • analysis of the industrial policy of Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts aimed at the development of agro-industrial complex; • evaluation of institutions’ contribution to the effectiveness of regional economic policy. The economic, sociological, systemic and institutional approaches, structural functionalism, comparative and historical methods as well as case-study were all used in this thesis.