Humanities & Social Sciences 5 (2015 8) 994-1002 ~ ~ ~ УДК 008.001 South-Russian and Siberian Frontier: Analogies and Specifi c Character Liudmila V. Baeva* Astrakhan State University 20a Tatishchev Str., Astrakhan, 414056, Russia Received 17.01.2015, received in revised form 20.02.2015, accepted 16.04.2015 The article focuses on the development of the theory of Russian frontier, analysis of its main concepts and topical issues in the fi eld of its practical application. <...> The article dwells upon the features of the frontiers of Siberia and Southern Russia, reveals their common features such as heterogeneity, vectorality, struggle for resources, religious confl icts, instability of boundaries, suburban position, lifestyle free from traditions, etc. <...> The analysis of the history of the conquest of southern suburbs and Siberia results in the conclusions about the nature of the process of the development of Russian metropolis, the peculiarities of the process of colonization of surrounding regions. <...> In modern period this leads to a reverse reaction, formation of a frontier aimed at “opening up” of Russia by its neighbors (“opening up” of Central Asia by the countries of the Caucasus and Siberia by China). <...> The research under state project No. 2014/414 is “Frontier Personality: Challenges and Risks of Intercultural Communications in Cross-Border Areas”, project code – 392. <...> Borrowings, sharing the traditions, experience, religious beliefs, and knowledge resulted in the societies’ intensive development not only due to internal processes but also because of external infl uence. <...> The territories of the peoples, who fell under the others’ infl uence, became a kind of frontier, a border zone. <...> Since the processes of settlement on new lands were long-lasting and uneven, their frontiers were Liudmila V. Baeva. <...> South-Russian and Siberian Frontier: Analogies and Specifi c Character rather conventional, moving, changing in both directions and infl uencing each party. <...> Zamiatina defi nes ‘frontier’ as a “zone of unstable balance” (Zamiatina 1998). <...> For our part we base on our previously developed classifi cation of frontier “barbarism” and “civilization” but also the issues of confl icts, intersection and penetration of different cultures which are no less complicated. <...> The most signifi cant steps in this direction were taken by the researchers of the history of the development of Siberia which was regarded to be analogous to American frontier but with its specifi c character <...>