Аннотация:The North Caucasus is characterized by a multi-ethnic composition of the population and an extremely uneven
distribution of land: mountain ethnic groups have vast summer pastures, and low-lying ethnic groups have
winter pastures. Therefore, transhumance as a system of seasonal cattle movements has a long history in the
North Caucasus and indicates conflict-free relations in the region. Transhumance had a particularly large scale
in Soviet times. After the collapse of the USSR and the weakening of state institutions, transhumance ceased or
became the subject of conflicts between lowland and mountainous ethnic groups, as well as between the state
and local communities. Currently, transhumance is starting to reborn. The hypothesis of the study is: the chances
of transhumance depend on the effectiveness of institutions to regulate different conflicts, where combinations
of formal and informal, old traditional and new (for example, market) institutions will occupy an important
place. The materials were collected during field studies in the North Caucasus in 2014-2019. We investigated
geographical features of transhumance (where and in what seasons grazing occurs, livestock migration routes),
institutional mechanisms for regulating access to pastures, the role of the state and ethnicity of actors involved in
transhumance. Based on these groups of indicators, we selected statistics, performed mapping, and also selected
people for interviews. As shown by the results, the new socio-political conditions have led to the destruction of
the Soviet collective farm system of transhumance. The magnitude of transhumance has declined sharply. Modern
transhumance is based on family-related and family-tribal associations using traditional and market institutions.
Recently, however, the centralization of power has been intensifying, and agricultural development is increasingly
dependent on government subsidies. As a result of this, institutional hybrids are formed with a different ratio of
formal and informal institutions.