Regional Sustainable Economic Development, Territorial Asymmetry, and the Role of Institutions: a Case of Russia

The existing asymmetry in socio-economic regional development in the Russian Federation indicates the need to explore this issue within the context of sustainable development and institutional economics. This paper aims to analyse the content of the triune and cluster approaches in sustainable development, while incorporating the institutionalist perspective. The study emphasizes how formal and informal institutions, such as governance quality, legal frameworks, property rights, and social norms all play a critical role in shaping regional development outcomes. Institutional economics provides a framework for understanding the interaction between federal, regional, and local institutions and their impact on overcoming territorial disparities. Seen from the perspective of institutional economics, cluster approach is an enabler or a constraint to sustainable regional development because institutions which foster economic efficiency and social inclusivity are important for spurring more rapid growth. This paper broadens the conceptual analysis of strategies for sustainable development and their ability to take into account regional disproportions in Russia, by integrating institutional factors that make it clear how important both economic and institutional reforms are required for long-term sustainability at a region level. Using a bibliometric approach and VOSviewer software, this paper visualizes and analyses foundational contributions on sustainable development and clusterization in Russia, drawing on 105 publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database. The co-occurrence maps and bibliometric networks elucidate thematic clusters and reveal insights into the interplay between institutional frameworks and sustainable regional development strategies. Our results suggest that the development of regions in Russia on sustainable and equal bases should not be only economic basis, as have demonstrated some other research, but consists of a whole integral institutional treatment containing an ensemble interweaving socio-economic-environmental policies. They are not just agents of economic growth but also important factors shaping the resilience and sustainability of regions. Thus, the key to overcoming territorial skewness is through robust institutional frameworks within each region to ensure that development policies are not only inclusive but also adapted to respond effectively with peculiarities of different territories.