A tale of two regions: Novgorod and Pskov as models of symbolic development

Russian regions display remarkably different patterns of economic and political development. These differences come into sharp focus when comparing two nearly identical northwestern regions, Novgorod and Pskov. Novgorod's success and Pskov's failure are attributed to the local elite's creative use of key cultural symbols and myths to support regional development. Contrasting two popular approaches to culture and development—“cultural adjustment” and “cultural congruence”—the author argues that the cultural congruence model, adopted by Novgorod, dramatically improves the chances for rapid social and economic transformation.