How has administrative territorial division changed historically? Historical evolution of the administrative-territorial and political division of Russia. questions and assignments

13.12.2023

All objects of the administrative-territorial division of Russia are multicomponent; throughout history they have undergone numerous transformations. Let us trace the course of government work in the field of territorial administration, as well as transformation in the structure of the Russian Federation.

Definition of the term

Administrative-territorial division is a representation of the territory of the state in the form of a set of administratively managed units, or subjects of our state. The administrative-territorial division of Russia is legally established. It is fully reflected in the basic law of the Russian Federation - the Constitution. Russia as a complex consists of such conditional components - subjects: regions, republics, autonomous regions, territories, autonomous districts, cities of federal significance. All subjects of the Russian Federation have a certain degree of sovereignty and are completely equal.

Transformations of territorial administration

Let us highlight the main processes in changing the scheme of administrative-territorial division of Russia:

changes in the total number of administrative units;
annexation or separation from subjects of areas of their territory;
consolidation and reduction of the territory of the subjects.

The peculiarities of the subject division of any state, including Russia, are determined primarily by physical-geographical spatial characteristics, historical and cultural-traditional prerequisites, established policy models and a certain range of economic factors.

State tasks

The main tasks of the state regarding the objects of the administrative-territorial division of Russia:

approval of the unity of the subject territory and the dynamics of the progressive development of the sovereign unit of the state;
determining the number of management levels in each subject;
delimitation of responsibilities for managing life in each administrative-territorial unit between the state authorities and the administrations of the subjects.

Reforms in the field of territorial administration

The policy aimed at defining and establishing a rigid power vertical and developing the institution of local self-government throughout the state's history required a set of reforms in Russia in the field of administration and territorial structure. Here are some examples:

initiative on the part of the public or government authorities to unite or create new regions;
creation of federal districts;
development of regional association projects;
reorientation from the three models of territorial division that existed at the beginning of the century to a two-level system of organizing local self-government on the territory of the state.

Significance of the analysis

The development and implementation of any reforms urgently require a very careful and scrupulous analysis of the possibility of positive or negative consequences. The same situation occurs in the sphere of territorial administration. This determines the tireless relevance of work in this area.

Active research continues on the evolutionary processes in the administrative-territorial division of Russia over the course of the last three hundred years. The implementation of each individual reform is also analyzed in detail. The main goal of such work is to identify and understand problems and approve the prospects for transformation of the administrative-territorial division of the country.

History of the administrative-territorial division of the constituent entities of Russia. 18 century

In its evolutionary development, the history of the administrative-territorial division of Russia has thirteen stages, leading from the very first reform of Peter’s days to the present. Before the reign of Peter the Great, that is, until the seventeenth century, the territory of the then Russian kingdom (later it was renamed the empire) was divided into one hundred and sixty-six districts. According to Peter the Great's reform in the sphere of territorial administration, Russia on December 18, 1708 was divided into eight provinces, which, in turn, consisted of orders, ranks and cities. In 1710-1713, shares were recognized as units of administrative-territorial division of Russia (then they were called administrative-fiscal units).

The development of evolutionary processes led to the introduction of the poll tax by Tsar Peter. Peter's second reform in territorial administration was put into effect on May 29, 1719. By that time, the total number of Russian provinces had already increased to eleven. The shares approved in accordance with the first reform were abolished, and nine of the eleven provinces were divided into forty-seven provinces, and the provinces, in turn, into districts.

Everything new is well forgotten old

The new administrative-territorial division, like everything else, is a well-forgotten old one. This is exactly what he decided to do when he proclaimed on behalf of Empress Catherine I in 1727 the liquidation of districts and the division of provinces into provinces and districts (even the number of districts was reproduced - one hundred and sixty-five). The number of provinces themselves was also increased to fourteen: Novgorod was separated from the seriously reduced St. Petersburg province, and Belgorod from Kyiv.

By 1745, there were sixteen provinces in the Russian Empire. Now the Baltic provinces were divided into districts. Four more new provinces were added to those existing in 1764-1766, and by 1775 the number of provinces in the country was twenty-three, along with them there were sixty-five provinces and two hundred and seventy-six districts. However, changes in the administrative-territorial division of Russia could not be completed, since the subjects remained too vast, differed greatly in population, and as a result were extremely inconvenient from the point of view of tax collection and management.

Actions opposing the further consolidation of the provinces were already carried out by Catherine II during her reform of 1775-1785. In the fall of 1775, the Empress signed a law, according to which the size of all provinces was reduced, and the number of subjects doubled. The liquidation of provinces was also established (in some provinces regions were introduced as a replacement), and the system of counties in the Russian Empire also changed.

Under the conditions of the new administrative-territorial division of Russia, an approximate mandatory number was established for all administrative-territorial units. For the province it was equal to an indicator of three hundred to four hundred thousand people per subject; for the county they set the bar in the region of twenty to thirty thousand. Most of the provinces were renamed governorships.

As a result of the reform, by 1785 there were forty governorships and provinces functioning in Russia, two regions existed as provinces, all these units were divided into four hundred and eighty-three districts. The size and boundaries of governorships were chosen so well that most of the values did not change until the 1920s and were extremely close to the size of modern subjects of the Russian Federation. In the subsequent years 1793-1796, quite a lot of lands were annexed, and eight new governorships were formed on them. Accordingly, their total number throughout the country reached fifty, and there was also one region.

Catherine the Great's son Paul I, as you know, did not support his mother's endeavors. During his counter-reform on December 12, 1796, thirteen provinces were removed. The emperor also introduced an updated division into counties, while the number of counties themselves was reduced. Governorships again began to be called provinces. At the end of Pavlov's reign, the number of provinces was reduced from fifty-one to forty-two.

19th century

Alexander I was entirely in favor of his grandmother’s endeavors. With his reforms, he restored the previous administrative-territorial division of Russia. Some changes were nevertheless made: Siberia was divided into two governor-generalities, this action was carried out in accordance with Speransky’s project. In 1825, there were forty-nine provinces and six regions in Russia.

In 1847, the number of provinces and regions increased to fifty-five and three, respectively. In 1856, the Primorsky region was established. The Black Sea Army was renamed the Kuban Army in 1860, and the territory of its operation became the Kuban region. New elements of territorial administration appeared in 1861, when the counties were divided into volosts. In the second half of the 19th century, the rudiments of local self-government were introduced in the form of zemstvos in a predominant number of provinces.

We can conclude that, despite various transformations, the administrative-territorial division of Russia in the 19th century had a fairly stable structure. The empire included regions, general governments and provinces. Their total number was eighty-one. The lower level of territorial administration were uluses, communes, villages and, of course, volosts. Large port and capital cities were in some ways a prototype of the current ones and were governed separately from the provinces.

20th century

The civil war in Russia in the twentieth century led to the emergence of autonomies among regions of the country with a predominantly indigenous population of their own (on the banks of the Volga and in the Urals). This process continued until 1923.

USSR

The first reform of territorial administration in the USSR took place in 1923-1929. It focused on the creation of economically self-sufficient, large entities independently governed by economic councils, which were adjusted to the economic regions of the state plan. The USSR now has forty administrative-territorial units instead of the previously existing eighty-two. Seven hundred and sixty-six counties were replaced by one hundred and seventy-six okrugs, and the townships were replaced by districts. Village councils have become the lowest level.

As a result, all units were disaggregated due to poor management of large regions and regions.

The reduction in unit sizes did not stop in 1943-1954. Some autonomies of the deported peoples were abolished. The Bashkir regions were created in 1952-1953, and in the winter of 1954, five regions were formed in the central region of the country. The regions in Bashkiria and Tatarstan were abolished after the death of Joseph Stalin, and in 1957 the number of five regions formed in the central part of the country was reduced to three, all autonomies, except for the Volga Germans, were restored.

Economic councils were created in 1957 and liquidated in 1965. They detailed the state planning areas; they could consist of one or several administrative-territorial units, but did not change them. An interesting fact is that special interregional book publishing houses were designed within the economic councils (for example, Priokskoye, Verkhne-Volzhskoye). This unusual division has been used in statistics, science, planning documents, and even for weather forecasts and the media in general. In accordance with the 1977 Constitution, the renaming of autonomous national districts took place.

Russian Federation

Full-scale administrative and territorial changes began in the last decade of the 20th century. From 1990 to 1991, some regions returned their previous names, almost all autonomous SSRs lost the letter “A” and became simply Soviet socialist republics, most autonomous okrugs became the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Soon these districts were returned to the regions and territories.

The real revolution occurred in 1990-1994, when the words “autonomous”, “socialist”, “Soviet” were excluded from the names of the subjects (the first status was retained only by the districts), in addition, names on a national basis arose: Tatarstan, Altai, Sakha, Mari El and so on. In the summer of 1992, a border appeared between Chechnya and the Ingush Republic, although it had not yet been officially fixed. Chechnya, together with Tatarstan, went further and declared themselves independent states.

21 century

Today, the territorial administration of our country has become more stable and stable. In the modern administrative-territorial division of Russia, federal districts are the largest units, currently there are seven of them. Chapter number three of the Constitution of the Russian Federation “Federal structure” identifies all the subjects of Russia today. The total number of territorial units is eighty-five.

>>Features of the administrative-territorial structure of Russia

§ 11. Features of administrative-territorial

Russian devices

Our Motherland is officially called “Russian Federation - Russia”. What is a “federation”? Translated from Latin, this means “union”, “unification”. Federation- this is a form of government in which, unlike unitary 1, the state consists of a system of federal units, subjects of the Federation, which have certain political rights.

Historically in Russia, which in the 16th century. was called "Russia", there was a complex system territory management. The country was divided into regions, which received the names of cities. The entire European part of Russia was divided into “Zamoskovsky cities”, “Pomeranian cities”, “Cities from German Ukraine (outskirts)”, “From Lithuanian Ukraine.”, “8aok cities”, “Ukrainian”, “Polish”, “Vyatka” , “Perm”, “Nizovsky cities”. Administratively they were divided into counties, volosts and camps. Under Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century. Russia was initially divided into 8 provinces 2.

At the end of the century (1775), under Catherine II, the entire Russian Empire was divided into 40 provinces with a population of 300 to 400 thousand males who paid taxes and served in the army (revision souls). The provinces were divided into 12-15 districts. At the beginning of the 20th century. the number of provinces and regions 3 increased to 101 (of which 56 are on the territory of modern Russia). The Russian Empire was a unitary state.

In Soviet times, along with the provinces, national-territorial education- union and autonomous republics, autonomous regions and districts. Subsequently, the provinces were enlarged and 13 territories and regions were created within the borders of modern Russia. Then their number increased significantly.

After the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the new Russian Federation, all former autonomous republics and a number of autonomous regions increased their status, becoming republics. Many of them changed their name or received a double name - the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Mari Republic (Mari El), the Republic of Tuva became known as Tyva. There is only one autonomous region left - Jewish - in the Far East. Autonomous (formerly national) districts have been preserved, the names of which were given according to the small numbers living in them indigenous peoples.

1 A unitary state (from the Latin unity) does not have federal parts (states, republics, lands), being divided only into districts, regions and provinces, which are subordinate to the central authorities.
2 The name “province” comes from the leader, a major official of the province - governor (from Latin - ruler).
3 In the Russian Empire, regions corresponded to provinces, but were located on border territories.

In most of the republics, which differ significantly in the number of inhabitants and area of territory, the Russian population predominates, and only in seven is the indigenous population, and in a number of republics their number is approximately equal.

Using the diagram (Fig. 15), specify how many subjects of the Federation form a niche country. How many republics, territories, regions and autonomous entities are there in Russia? Find out what administrative entities are typical for modern Russia at the local level. What is their subordination?

In large cities, in turn, districts, districts and municipalities are distinguished (for example, in Moscow there are 10 districts). Rural administrations (departments) are created in rural areas. They are controlled by various grassroots territorial cells and have different names; rural districts, volosts, village councils (see Fig. 15).

In May 2000, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, to strengthen the effectiveness of state power, improve control over the implementation of laws, the Constitution of Russia and decisions of the federal government, seven federal districts were formed, which included all subjects of the Federation. After the creation of federal districts in all republics and other subjects of the Federation, local legislation is changed to comply with the Constitution of the country, decisions that do not comply with the resolutions of the federal government are changed. These districts are directly subordinate to the President through authorized representatives appointed to them. In each district, a center is identified - the largest city: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk (Fig. 16).

Questions and tasks

1. How has it changed historically?administrative-territorial division in the Russian Empire?
2. How has the administrative-territorial division changed in the Soviet Union compared to the Russian Empire?
3. What are the features of federalism in the new Russia?
4. Why did Moscow and St. Petersburg become cities of federal subordination and subjects of the Federation?
5. What problems does the new administrative reform in Russia solve?
6. According to Fig. 16 consider the features geographical location federal districts, find their centers.
7. Check in which federal districts the republics are concentrated,
8. Fill out the table in your notebook.

Geography of Russia: Nature. Population. Farming. 8th grade : textbook for 8th grade. general education institutions / V. P. Dronov, I. I. Barinova, V. Ya. Rom, A. A. Lobzhanidze; edited by V. P. Dronova. - 10th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, 2009. - 271 p. : ill., map.

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How many federal subjects make up our country? How many republics, territories, regions and autonomous entities are there in Russia?

The Russian Federation includes 83 subjects: 9 territories, 46 regions, 2 cities of federal subordination, 21 republics, 1 autonomous region, 4 autonomous districts.

Find out what the administrative divisions of Russia are at the local level. What is their subordination?

The subjects of the Federation are divided into lower administrative regions. On their territory there are different cities, some of which are larger - of republican, regional, regional and district significance, respectively. Other cities, towns and large rural settlements represent the centers of districts. In large cities, in turn, districts, districts and municipalities are distinguished (for example, in Moscow there are 10 districts). Rural administrations are being created in rural areas.

questions and assignments

1. How did the administrative-territorial division change historically in the Russian Empire?

Historically, Russia has had a complex system of territorial management. The country was divided into regions, which received the names of cities. Administratively they were divided into counties, volosts and camps. Under Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century. Russia was initially divided into 8 provinces.

At the end of the century, under Catherine II, the entire Russian Empire was divided into 40 provinces with a population of 300 to 400 thousand males who paid taxes and served in the army (revision souls). The provinces were divided into 12-15 districts. At the beginning of the 20th century. the number of provinces and regions increased to 101 (of which 56 are on the territory of modern Russia). The Russian Empire was a unitary state.

2. How has the administrative-territorial division changed in the Soviet Union compared to the Russian Empire?

In Soviet times, along with the provinces, national-territorial entities began to form - union and autonomous republics, autonomous regions and districts. Subsequently, the provinces were enlarged, and 13 territories and regions were created within the borders of modern Russia. Then their number increased significantly.

3. What are the features of federalism in the new Russia?

After the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the new Russian Federation, all former autonomous republics and a number of autonomous regions increased their status, becoming republics. Many of them changed their name or received a double name - the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Mari Republic (Mari El), the Republic of Tuva began to be called Tyva. There is only one autonomous region left - Jewish - in the Far East. Autonomous (formerly national) districts have been preserved, the names of which were given according to the small indigenous peoples living in them.

4. Why did Moscow and St. Petersburg become cities of federal subordination and subjects of the Federation?

Moscow and St. Petersburg became federal cities and federal subjects due to their large populations.

5. What problems does the new administrative reform in Russia solve?

Administrative reform was carried out to strengthen the effectiveness of state power, improve control over the implementation of laws, the Russian Constitution and decisions of the federal government.

6. According to Fig. 16 consider the features of the geographical location of the federal districts, find their centers.

A total of 8 federal districts were created. Each district has a center - the largest city: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Pyatigorsk, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk. The peculiarity of their geographical location is that 6 of them are located in the European part and only two, but of a very large area, in the Asian part of the country.

8. Fill out the table in your notebook

Historical evolution of the administrative-territorial and political division of Russia

Administrative-territorial division (ATD) is the most clearly distinguishable, legally established form of regionalization of society. It represents the division of the territory of the state into administratively controlled parts (administrative-territorial units, ATD cells).

The main processes of changing the ATD are an increase or decrease in the number of administrative units, their consolidation (consolidation of small units into larger ones) or disaggregation (fragmentation, disintegration), the annexation of neighboring areas to them or the cutting off (transfer) of their territory to neighboring units. These processes can be characterized by stability and variability (rapid redrawing of the network, enlargement or fragmentation of its cells), slow or fast relaxation (the desire for stable equilibrium). As a rule, changes to the grid occur during ATD reforms, the implementation of which is usually dictated by the current political needs of states and changes in the principles of territorial governance. For Russia, with its vast territory, the ATD grid and the principle of its structure serve as one of the foundations of statehood, and their evolution is a reflection and an important component of eras and cycles of regionalization.

Stages of evolution of ADT systems in Russia

The evolution process of the ADT grid is divided into the following stages.

Peter's first reform. Before it was held, the territory of Russia was divided into counties (which were previously called princely lands, appanages, orders, ranks, chetyas). Their number, according to V. Snegirev, in the 17th century was 166.

By decree of Peter I of December 18, 1708, the territory of the Russian Empire was divided into 8 huge provinces (Table 1). The provinces were not divided into districts, but were made up of cities and adjacent lands, as well as ranks and orders. In 1710-1713 they were divided into shares (administrative and fiscal units), which were governed by the Landrat.

Table 1. Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1708

No.	Name of the province	Area (thousand km 2)	Number of households in 1710	Thousands of souls in 1719*
	Azovskaya
	Arkhangelogorodskaya
	Ingria (since 1710 St. Petersburg)
	Kazanskaya
	Kyiv
	Moscow
	Siberian
	Smolenskaya
	Total for the empire	15016	637005	10200

* Approximate estimate based on the first revision.
Sources: Brockhaus F.A., Efron I.A. Russia: Encyclopedic Dictionary. SPb., 1898 (Reprint: L.: Lenizdat, 1991) p. 211; Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. 1899. T. 54. pp. 211-213; Milyukov P.N.

In 1713, the Riga province was formed from the newly annexed lands in the north-west, and the Smolensk province was abolished and divided between the Riga and Moscow provinces. In 1714, the Nizhny Novgorod province was separated (then abolished) from the Kazan province, and in 1717, the new Astrakhan province was formed from the southern part of the Kazan province. Thus, in 1708-1717 the empire was divided into 8-10 not very stable provinces.

The second Peter's reform (by decree of May 29, 1719) began with the introduction of the poll tax and the first census-audit.

The shares were abolished, the provinces were divided into provinces, and the provinces into districts, the Nizhny Novgorod province was restored, and the Revel province was formed on the newly annexed lands in the Baltic states. Two provinces (Astrakhan and Revel) were not divided into provinces; in the remaining 9, 45 provinces were established (see Table 2).

Table 2. Number of provinces, regions and provinces in the Russian Empire in 1708-1905	Years	Number of provinces

Number of provinces Reform of 1727

liquidated the districts, dividing the provinces not only into provinces, but also into counties (166 counties were initially restored), and formed new provinces. Belgorod was separated from the Kyiv province, and Novgorod from St. Petersburg. In total, after the reform of 1727, there were 14 provinces and about 250 districts in the empire. Then came a long period of relative stability of the ATD. Only in 1744 were the Vyborg and Orenburg provinces formed.

In 1764-1766, Catherine II created 4 new provinces, bringing their number to 20. After the first partition of Poland in 1772, two new provinces were created partly from its former lands - Mogilev and Pskov. Before the start of the total reform of the last quarter of the 18th century, the country had 23 provinces, 65 provinces and 276 counties. Despite the gradual increase in the number of units inherited from Peter's division, they remained extensive and "irregular", having very different populations and being inconvenient for administration and tax collection. On November 7, 1775, Catherine II signed the law “Institutions for the management of provinces,” according to which the size of the province was reduced, their number was doubled, provinces were eliminated (in a number of provinces, regions were allocated instead) and the division of counties was changed. On average, 300-400 thousand people lived in the province, 20-30 thousand in the district. The process of replacing old provinces with new ones, some of which were called “vicerarchates,” lasted for 10 years (1775-1785). During this period, 40 governorships and provinces were formed, as well as 2 regions with the rights of a province. There were 483 districts allocated to them. The dynamics of the disaggregation and transformation of old provinces into new ones was uneven: 2 appeared in 1775, 3 in 1776, 4 in 1777, 4 in 1778, 5 in 1779, 7 in 1780, 7 in 1781, 7 in 1782 2, in 1783 - 4, in 1784 - 3, in 1785 - 1 province. The size and boundaries of most governorates and provinces formed in 1775-1785 remained virtually unchanged until the 1920s (with the exception of the period of Pavlov's "counter-reform").

In 1793-1796, 8 more new provinces were formed from the newly annexed lands, so that by the end of the reign of Catherine II, Russia was divided into 50 governorates and provinces and 1 region (in total - 51 units of the highest level of the ATD).

Pavlovsk "counter-reform" (enlargement of ATD). Among other hasty changes typical of his reign, Paul I enlarged the governorships created under his mother and again officially renamed them into provinces. The decree of December 12, 1796 completely abolished 13 provinces. A new division of provinces into counties was introduced, the number of counties was reduced (county towns were transferred to provincial towns).

Paul renamed and enlarged several provinces, after which the number of higher units of the ATD decreased from 51 to 42; The counties were also enlarged.

Restoration of the network of the Catherine ATD and the formation of new provinces in the 19th century. Alexander I, having taken the throne in 1801, began to restore the previous grid of provinces, retaining, however, a number of new ones, Pavlov’s. Thus, the decree of September 9, 1801 immediately restored the five provinces destroyed by Paul within their borders before 1796. In January 1822, according to Speransky's reform, the entire territory of Siberia was divided into two general governorates - West Siberian with the center in Omsk (which was also the center of the Omsk region; see below) and East Siberian (center - Irkutsk). In fact, the reforms of the ATD during the reign of Alexander I reduced to zero all of Paul’s enlargement measures, also increasing the number of counties, and therefore reducing their average size. In 1825, there were 49 provinces in Russia: 32 Russian and 13 special - 3 Baltic (Baltic), 8 Western (Belarus and Ukraine), 2 Little Russian, 4 Siberian, as well as 6 regions (Bessarabian, Caucasian, Don Troops, Georgia with all the Transcaucasian lands, Omsk and Yakutsk).

ATD in the second half of the 19th century. As of 1847, there were 55 provinces and 3 regions in the Russian Empire.

Their smooth evolution continued. In the 1850s, some changes were made to the ATD in Siberia. So, in 1856, a new Primorsky region was formed from the coastal parts of the East Siberian General Government. In 1860, the Black Sea Army was renamed the Kuban Army, and its lands were renamed the Kuban Region. The Terek region was established nearby.

In 1861, the provincial districts were divided into volosts, which played an important role in the peasant reform of Alexander II and in the activities of rural communities.

In addition to ordinary provinces, there were general governorates and regions, moreover, with different rights. In 1914, most of the regions, usually allocated on the outskirts of the empire, were part of the general governorates: Irkutsk, Amur, Steppe, Turkestan. There were also five regions in the Caucasian governorship (established in 1844, abolished in 1881, restored in 1905). Three regions (Don Troops, Ural and Turgai) existed independently, with the rights of provinces.

The average size of a province (region) in the European part of the country (minus the provinces along the western border) in 1917 was 95 thousand square meters. km, and in Asian - 630 thousand square meters. km. Coexistence of old and new ATD units (1917-1923).

Even at the end of the 19th century, projects appeared to disaggregate the country's ATD, as well as to establish provinces in those new areas where industry was growing rapidly. Thus, in 1888 it was proposed to form a new Yekaterinburg province, separating it from Perm. In 1914-1917, the Russian press actively discussed the issue of organizing new provinces in the central part of the country and in Siberia. The first step in this direction was taken in April 1917, when Altai was allocated from the southern districts of the Tomsk province with its center in Barnaul.
The October Revolution of 1917 unleashed a wave of regionalization, the formation of Soviet and non-Soviet republics, and autonomies. In the outskirts (in Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, Siberia) and in the middle regions with a non-Russian population (in the Urals and Volga), autonomous or independent republics were proclaimed in 1918-1920. Thus, in the territory already called the RSFSR, in 1918-1919, the first national-state formations arose - the Labor Commune of the Volga Germans, “small” Bashkiria - prototypes of the future autonomous republics (ASSR) and regions (AO). The upper level of the division of the RSFSR became dual: in addition to the provinces as a legacy of the actual ATD of the unitary state, autonomies and substates appeared - elements of the division of the political. It was their abundance, from the point of view of later Soviet law, that made Russia a federation.

First Soviet reform 1923-1929 (enlargement of ATD, administrative and economic regionalization). Throughout the USSR (formed on December 30, 1922 by uniting the RSFSR, the Ukrainian, Byelorussian SSR and the Transcaucasian SFSR), since 1923, the idea of administrative and economic zoning of the country, developed by the State Planning Committee, began to be implemented. Its essence was the complete replacement of small provinces with Soviet economic giant regions that corresponded to the state planning economic regions. New regions, instead of counties, were divided into larger cells - districts, and those were divided instead of volosts into larger cells - districts. The village councils became the lowest level.

The first testing ground for the new Soviet ATD was the old industrial Urals. Already in the summer of 1923, a decision was made to prepare it for “zoning.” The Ural region was made up of 4 old provinces, dividing them into 15 districts instead of 22 counties, that is, the region was enlarged four times compared to the provinces, the districts - 1.5-2 times compared to the counties. In 1924, the first (“agricultural”) region was created - the North Caucasus. It became the prototype of the future Soviet territories, which included, as a rule, “ordinary” territories with a Russian population and recently emerged national autonomies (ASSR, Autonomous Okrug).

In May 1925, a second huge region was created in the east - Siberian with its center in Novo-Nikolaevsk (renamed Novosibirsk for this occasion), and in January 1926, a third - Far Eastern with its center in Khabarovsk. In May 1927, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to create the North-Western Territory headed by Leningrad, but instead of it a large Leningrad region appeared. In May 1928, 3 regions of a new type were formed at once: Central Black Earth, Middle Volga and Lower Volga.

The last step of this total reform was the decree of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of January 14, 1929 on the complete liquidation of provinces and the creation of regions and territories in the still unregistered part of the country (Center and European North). On this day, the last large regions were formed - Western, Ivanovo Industrial, Nizhny Novgorod, Central Industrial - and the Northern Territory.

After this act, instead of 766 counties, 176 districts appeared in the USSR, and volosts also disappeared. On the territory of Russia there were 40 units of the upper level of the ATD instead of 82 in 1923 (minus the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which seceded from the RSFSR). They consisted of 6 regions and 7 territories, corresponding to Gosplan districts, and national-territorial units (ASSR, autonomous regions, national districts), which violated the principle of uniform division into large homogeneous economic regions. Autonomies that were small in area and population (17) were, as a rule, part of territories or regions. However, 10 ASSRs were located outside of them.

The second Soviet reform of the ATD (disaggregation of cells, “deregionalization” of management). First phase: 1930-1939 The very ideas of an economic administrative region and regionalization of the NEP-type economy quickly came into conflict with the mobilization logic of the five-year plans, with the implementation of industrialization through sectoral people's commissariats. In addition, the ATD units, huge in area, population and number of districts, were simply poorly managed. Therefore, immediately after the completion of the first reform, the process went into reverse. First of all, the question arose about the disaggregation of giant edges. At the same time, they decided to abandon the district link in the ATD and basically eliminated it by the end of 1930 (on the outskirts of the country they existed and even re-emerged until 1947).

The disaggregation took place in waves: 1) the division of the Far Eastern Territory into regions in 1932; 2) the collapse of a number of edges and large regions into smaller regions in 1934-1935; 3) fragmentation in 1936-1938 of all regions and territories formed in 1925-1929. The disappearance of the last “large” regions and territories in September 1937 became the most massive chord in the disaggregation of the ATD.

After the main waves of disaggregation in 1934 and 1937-1938, not a single “large” region remained within the RSFSR, not counting the only partially divided Leningrad region, or the region created by the first consolidation reform. The new regions resembled the old regime provinces destroyed in 1923-1929 in their size, sometimes outlines, as well as functions - political, administrative and economic supervisory (primarily agriculture), but not economic planning. Second phase of disaggregation (1943-1954).

The process of re-transforming large regions and territories into small ones was almost completed before the Great Patriotic War. But some of the newly allocated regions and the “unfinished” Leningradskaya still seemed too large for administrative control. And during the war years (after the turning point), a second wave of fragmentation of these areas that were not entirely suitable for the command system arose. It was also accompanied by the liquidation of a number of autonomies of those peoples who were considered disloyal by the Stalinist apparatus and deported to Central Asia, Kazakhstan, and Siberia. The territories of these autonomies were divided between neighboring Russian regions and loyal autonomies.

In January 1954, on the outskirts of a number of regions of Central Russia, 5 new regions were formed at once, three of which lasted only three years, and the other two are still alive today. The Arzamas, Balashov and Kamensk regions with their weak centers turned out to be ephemeral and short-lived, and the Belgorod and Lipetsk regions created in January 1954 remained part of the ATD. This was the last act of the process of disaggregation, which began back in 1930.

The stage of relaxation of the Soviet ADT system (1957-1990). After reaching the maximum fragmentation of the main units in 1954, a small step back was taken towards their consolidation: in 1957, 4 unsuccessful peripheral regions with weak centers, dependent on larger ones, suppressing these small cities, were eliminated. In April, Arzamas and Velikolukskaya regions were abolished, and in November - Balashovskaya and Kamenskaya regions.

In January 1957, the restoration of the autonomies of the “punished peoples” liquidated during the war - all except the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans - actually ended a major shake-up in the ATD network of the RSFSR. From that moment to the present day, it has not changed in the most basic terms, except for small transfers of sections of territory, renaming and changing the status of autonomies, and the latter is no longer a trifle. But territorially (geographically), such advances, especially Soviet ones, were of a purely “cosmetic” nature.

Thus, according to the Brezhnev constitution of 1977, all 10 national okrugs began to be called autonomous okrugs. We especially note that the transition of ADT to the relaxation stage was accompanied by second Soviet attempt at administrative-economic regionalization known as time "Khrushchev" economic councils of 1957-1965

. But they essentially did not affect the ATD itself. At first, the economic councils were simply included in its then-current grid, and in November 1962 they were enlarged, bringing their number to 50 in the USSR and 24 in the RSFSR. These areas were declared to be a detail of the main state planning ones, and were made up of one (Murmansk, Moscow city, union-republican economic councils) or several units of the upper echelon of the ATD or political division, without changing or canceling them. A couple of years later, having removed Khrushchev, they abandoned the idea itself. A new wave of formal changes (names and statuses, but not borders) arose at the end of Gorbachev's perestroika, in 1990-1991. Firstly, the old names of the Kalinin (Tver), Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), Kuibyshev (Samara) regions were returned. Secondly, in 1990, an epidemic of increasing Soviet status began: the transformation of the ASSR into the Union Socialist Republics (USSR), the Autonomous Region into the ASSR. By the summer of 1991, almost all of the ASSR became the SSR, and many autonomous okrugs became the ASSR or even the SSR. True, after a short “free floating” the districts returned to their previous status and are considered, at least formally, as part of their territories and regions.

The exception is the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, which officially left the Magadan region.

Thirdly, the idea of “regional self-financing” (economic independence of territories), popular during the years of perestroika, quickly grew into the idea of political self-determination.

What happened to Chechnya is known to everyone, but it is unknown what it will lead to and what its status will be. By the way, in June 1992, the first territorial change in the Russian ATD since 1957 occurred - the Chechen and Ingush republics were divided, although the border between them was not de jure fixed. The question arose about the “divorce” of other republics, as well as territories and regions with their autonomous okrugs.

This is remembered during political strife (as in Karachay-Cherkessia in 1999-2000). Formally, no other “divorce” took place.

The second wave almost died out in 1993, and the Russian ATD received a modern look. Later, the internal ATD of the subjects of the Federation themselves could change (an experiment with the district division of the Sverdlovsk region, the renaming of districts into uluses in Kalmykia and Yakutia, aimaks in Buryatia, etc.), and their external borders and number remained almost constant (except for the voluntary transfer of the Sokolsky district from Ivanovo region to Nizhny Novgorod region). By 2001, there were 87 first-level ATD units in the country, in addition to the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
It must be admitted that behind the formality, “cosmetic” changes and external stability of the ATD, the regionalization of power and property was raging. Problems of legal and actual asymmetry of the subjects of the Russian Federation, their relations with the Kremlin, with each other and with their own municipalities (cities, districts), ambiguity of laws and even statuses (for example, districts as full-fledged subjects... as part of other subjects), projects for reforming the ATD at all levels, its relationship with the seven presidential federal districts of 2000, etc.

Despite all this, the fact remains: the regionalization of the late 20th century changed the ATD grid slightly. The parade of sovereignties rather fit into it. And this distinguishes it from the first parade of the century, which took place during the years of the revolution and civil war. Then a whole class of autonomies and many new provinces arose, and six years later the Soviet reform of total consolidation broke out. The parade of the 1990s is much more conservative, slower, and the closer to the regionalization of the period of Khrushchev’s economic councils, which no longer broke the ATD, but “grinded in” to it.

The periodization and description of the process of evolution of the Russian ATD indicate the presence of alternating waves of consolidation and disaggregation of units of the first rank of the hierarchy. The stages of enlargement and disaggregation (grinding), as a rule, are separated by long phases of stable equilibrium. Drastic changes in the existing structure of the ATD occurred mainly in connection with changes in the political regime of the state, as well as with a change in the principles of regional policy, the policy of economic development and management of the territory.

The main quantitative indicators of changes in the ATD grid are the number of units (cells), the average size of their territory and population. The section analyzes changes in only the first two indicators.

The number of provinces of the Russian Empire as a whole (including the current territories of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, Moldova, Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan, excluding Finland and the Kingdom of Poland) grew rapidly during the disaggregation reforms carried out during the 18th century (Table 2). It reached 51 in the last year of the reign of Catherine II. Under Paul I, this number was reduced to 42, but then almost all of the abolished provinces were restored by Alexander I. Later, due to the newly annexed lands, their number increased to 81.

In 1917, the process of fragmentation of provinces began, and many new Soviet ones appeared. If in 1917 there were 56 of them within the borders of the RSFSR, then at the beginning of 1922 there were 72 (Table 3). In 1923-1929, all of them were replaced by “large” state planning regions-districts, and the total number of main level units (new regions and territories) was reduced to 13 by 1930.

Parallel to the merging of provinces into huge regions and territories, there was a process of smaller ATD due to national autonomies, which did not exist in Russia at all before 1918 (these territories partly corresponded to pre-revolutionary regions with districts and departments). During 1918-1930, 36 of them were formed: 11 ASSR, 15 autonomous regions, 10 national districts. During the transition from the old ATD system (province/region - district/district/division - volost/, etc.) to the new one (region/krai/autonomy - district) for 7 years (1923-1930), there was an intermediate level of hierarchy - district . In the RSFSR by 1930 there were 144 of them; in 1931-1947, administrative districts remained on the outskirts of a number of sparsely populated regions.

Table 3. Number of ATD units in Russia in 1917-2000*

Dates	Governorates and regions	Soviet regions and territories	ASSR	Autonomous areas	National districts	Administrative districts	Counties	Parish	Districts

* Including the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic until 1924, the Kazakh and Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics until 1936 1., the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the region until 1954.

Sources: Directories Administrative-territorial division of the USSR and the RSFSR for 1921-87; Population of the Russian Federation by cities, urban-type settlements and regions as of January 1, 2000. Moscow, Goskomstat, 2000.

The number of regions and territories increased in the 30s, during their disaggregation, from 13 to 41, then, in 1943-1947 - to 56 and in 1954 - to 61 (if we add to them 5 regions of the Bashkir and Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, existing in 1952-1953, then the maximum number of regions in the RSFSR for the entire period of its existence will be 66).

The number of autonomies decreased in 1936 due to the secession of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Karakalpakia from the RSFSR, in 1940 - Karelia, in 1941-1945 - the abolition of a number of autonomies of the North Caucasus, Volga region and Crimea. In 1957-1958, their number was again replenished by the restored autonomies of the North Caucasus.

The number of regions decreased in 1956-1957 from 61 to 55 due to the liquidation of a number of them. From 1957-1958 to 2000, the number of regions, territories, and autonomies did not change at all, with one exception: in 1992, the Republic of Ingushetia arose. In 1991-1992, 4 out of 5 autonomous regions increased their status, becoming republics (one Jewish region remained), but all national (autonomous since 1977) districts remained.

The average size of ATD units in Russia changed depending on the spatial processes in the ATD system: when units were enlarged, their average area, of course, increased; when disaggregated, it decreased (Table 4).

Table 4. Average sizes (area) of the main units of ATD (Eatd) of Russia, without cities of central subordination, in thousands of km2 in 1708-2000 (for all dates, the average size is calculated in the modern borders of the Russian Federation, the number of units of a given size is indicated in parentheses)

Table 2. Number of provinces, regions and provinces in the Russian Empire in 1708-1905	Total number of Eatd	Average size of small Eatd (	Average size of average Etd (100-330 thousand km 2)	Average size of large ETD (330-1000 thousand km 2)	Average size of ultra-large EAT (1000-3000 thousand km 2)	Size of the largest ETD (> 3000 thousand km 2)

* Data for 1847 is incomplete; there is no information on the area of the Siberian and North Caucasian provinces.
** Total number of units with an area of more than 3000 km2
*** Counting the Tyumen region and the Krasnoyarsk region together with their districts

Source: Tarkhov S.A. Changes in the administrative-territorial division of Russia over the past 300 years // Geography. 2001. No. 15. P. 1-32; No. 21. P. 1-32.

According to the table, an alternating increase and decrease in the size of ATD units can be seen, which is especially clearly seen in the example of medium-sized units, as well as all units with an area of less than 1000 square meters. km. The table, however, does not reflect all stages and phases of consolidation and disaggregation during the 18th-19th centuries due to the lack of data on the area of all provinces of this period. Nevertheless, the oscillatory process is evident: waves of consolidation and disaggregation alternate, and there are several such waves in the evolution of the Russian ATD system (disaggregation under Catherine II, Alexander I, in 1917-1922 and 1934-1954; consolidation under Peter I, Paul I , in 1923-1929 and 1956-1957).

No less interesting phenomena in the process of evolution of the ADT system are the phenomena of stability and ephemeral existence of its units. Let us give just a few examples (for lack of space) of such stability and ephemerality.

In one form or another, 42 old provinces continued to exist during the Soviet period as regions, territories, or ASSRs (minus the brief period of the first Soviet reform at the turn of the 20s and 30s). These are mainly provinces (or regions) of European Russia (Vladimir, Voronezh, Vyatka, Kazan - Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, etc.) and some in Asian (Yenisei - Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk, Yakutsk region - Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Amur, etc.). In addition, in 1917-1921, 8 new units arose, which also exist to this day (Altai, Bryansk, Yekaterinburg, Murmansk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk). In the post-war period, new “stable” regions were added to them (Kaliningrad, Lipetsk, Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Magadan).

Pre-revolutionary ephemerals include the Vyborg province and a number of others, erased (like the Black Sea) from the administrative map by the first Soviet ATD reform. There are much more Soviet ephemera.

Among them: the short-lived Soviet provinces (Rybinsk, North Dvina, Cherepovets), almost all regions and giant regions of the Gosplan type from the Western to the Far Eastern Territories, the internal regions of this region (Ussuriysk, Nizhne-Amur). After the war, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin, Arzamas, Balashov, Velikoluksk, Grozny, Kamensk regions, the internal regions of the Bashkir (Sterlitamak, Ufa) and Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (Bugulma, Kazan, Chistopol) arose, but quickly disappeared.

Among the autonomies there were also two ephemerals - the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans and the Karachay Autonomous Okrug.

In general, the units of the first link of the ATD are quite stable (most regions, in one form or another, slightly reduced or expanded, continue the more than 200-year traditions of their predecessor provinces), although at all stages of the evolution of the ADT system, unstable ephemeral units appeared and disappeared - Losers. It seems that the main thing for this system is stability, not variability. After all, any radical violation of stability led, in the end, to a period of collapse and then to the search for a new stable equilibrium, close to the original one.

ATD consolidation projects and federal districts

A striking example of the first approach was the idea of V.V. Zhirinovsky about the division of Russia into 7 huge provinces. Surprisingly, both the number and all centers of federal districts (FDs) formed by Presidential Decree of May 13, 2000 coincided with this project. However, there are differences in 15 regions, affecting all 7 units. The federal districts did not coincide with the 8 military districts: the Trans-Baikal Military District with its center in Chita is divided between two federal districts, the center of the presidential representative in the Volga region was not the military headquarters Samara, but Nizhny Novgorod (part of the Moscow Military District), etc. Eight is also a number interregional economic cooperation associations (MRAs), which were formed, as is commonly believed, by the regions themselves, and changed during the 90s. MRA "Chernozemye", repeating the contour of the economic region, did not receive an analogue in the FD grid; The composition of other associations is not the same. There are generally more Gosplan economic regions (11) than there are units in the four other grids under consideration, hence a number of obvious differences. Therefore, by the way, there is no point in comparing the Federal District with existing projects for a more fractional division of Russia into 30-50 units.

And similarities and differences with grids of close granularity can be identified by counting the number of those in which a given region is assigned to a unit associated with its federal district. There are many discrepancies, and in the cases of the Volgograd region, which is more often attributed to the Volga region than to the South (North Caucasus), with the Cis-Ural strip, associated with the Urals, and with the Chita region, the “subject of dispute” between Siberia and the Far East, presidential federal districts are in the minority . At the same time, each one has one or another core, about which all five networks, including the presidential one, are unanimous. Moreover, these cores resemble those identified when comparing seven options for state planning zoning for the period of the 20-80s.

The second, asymmetrical approach to reshaping the ATD is presented in the statements of A. Tuleev, Yu. Luzhkov, and a number of other regional leaders and specialists about uniting into large units (for better manageability) “ordinary” subjects of the Russian Federation, but not the main national republics, Moscow and St. -Petersburg. With such a unification, there could be 30-35 units left in the country instead of 89. However, after the creation of federal districts, which decisively united subjects of different types, such proposals clearly decreased. But this does not mean that the issue is finally closed.

Officially, the tasks of the Federal District and authorized representatives of the President are reduced to coordinating the activities of territorial divisions of federal departments, monitoring the compliance of regional standards with federal ones and their compliance at the local level. However, the districts themselves were immediately perceived in society as the beginning of the reform of the ATD of Russia, as the first move in a game started with the goal of centralizing a shaky state. It was hard to believe that the district “plenipotentiaries” would resist the temptation to build their own macro-regional governance structures or interfere in the activities of regional ones.

Everyone noticed that the capitals of the national republics never became the centers of the Federal District, although their very choice from the available large cities (say, Nizhny Novgorod instead of Samara) was questioned.

In general, the ideas of consolidating the ATD to unite the country, which had been brewing for a number of years, received definite outlines and were received with enthusiasm, sometimes clearly premature and unnecessary. This is evidenced by the hasty “introduction” of federal districts as the main territorial units into statistics, cartography, school teaching, and sometimes into weather forecasts.

Meanwhile, caution is needed here. After all, any drastic, total consolidation, similar to the reforms of Peter I, Paul I and the first Soviet one (even in terms of the number of new units), can also have negative results. The centers of giant units in Russian conditions are always located eccentrically in relation to the trust territory, thereby increasing the distance to its outskirts, sometimes removing the latter by thousands of kilometers from the place where officials are concentrated and important decisions are made. In large units, local and regional differences and details, problems and needs are inevitably “drowned”, erased, averaged out. The larger the units, the less distinguishable all these “little things” become.

It is also alarming that, in order to compensate the disadvantaged governors, they were allowed to violate their municipalities.

As historical analysis shows, after consolidation campaigns, having experienced a kind of shock, the ATD system still strives to return to a state close to the original one, as more optimal.

When the number of ATD cells of the first link became less than 40-50, and the area of most of them exceeded 100 thousand square meters. km, this usually indicated going beyond the optimum, and the reaction to it was a wave of “reproduction” of cells and their disaggregation. Let us not forget that the number and size of ATD units is largely determined by the size of the country’s space and the experience of managing it. In Russia, with its vast territory, several super-large units have always been few for the purposes of control and management. But for the strategic tasks of reintegrating the country, they are either not very suitable or even pose a certain risk.
1 - Snegirev V. Administrative division and institutions of pre-revolutionary Russia by period // Encyclopedic Dictionary "Granat". 1938. T. 36, part 6 Appendix 1. P. 1-7.
2 - There were important changes in the composition of the first-level units. So, in 1887, the Rostov district was transferred from the Ekaterinoslav province to the Don region - the future Rostov
3 - “Discord” in the upper link of the ATD was reflected and intensified at the bottom. The second link consisted of counties, districts (usually, but not necessarily in regions), southern departments, two edges of the Yenisei province and special semi-autonomous units such as the “Kalmyk steppe” (Internal Bukey Horde) in the Astrakhan province, “territories of nomadic peoples” in the neighboring Stavropol and etc. The third link was volosts, villages, communes, uluses, etc., not to mention the mass of categories of settlements. Capital and large port cities were governed separately from the provinces.
4 - Tarkhov S.A. Changes in the administrative-territorial division of Russia over the past 300 years // Geography. 2001. No. 15. P. 1-32; No. 21. P. 1-32.
6 - During 1990-1994, Tatarstan became Tatarstan, Bashkiria - Bashkortostan, Tuva - Tyva, Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - the Mari El Republic, Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - the Altai Republic. Both names (Russian and national) were used by the republics of Sakha (Yakutia), Kalmykia - Khalmg-Tangch (considered mandatory until February 1996), North Ossetia - Alania, as well as Chechnya - Ichkeria, Chuvashia - Chavash, etc. Since the mid-90s years, the parade of ethnolinguistic symbols clearly began to end.
7 - Section written with the participation of A.I. Treyvisha
8 - Zhirinovsky V.V. New structure of Russia. M., 1999. p. 37-47, 52-53
9 - So, Zhirinovsky’s Urals coincided with the last “Gosplan”, and the Federal Districts are “cutting” it, following the outline of the military districts. Zhirinovsky attributed the three northern regions of the Central Economic Region, together with the neighboring Vologda, to the Northern, and not to the Moscow, province, while the presidential federal district duplicates the old (large) North-Western economic region, deviating in this case from the boundaries of the military districts
10 - Hare D.V. The beginning of a new administrative-territorial reform? // Geography. 2000. No. 21 P. 1-2; Rodoman B.B. Prospects for the evolution of federal districts // Russian regions and center: interaction in the economic space. M.: Institute of Geography RAS, 2000. pp. 36-41
11 - Rodoman B.B. Prospects for the evolution of federal districts // Russian regions and center: interaction in the economic space. M.: Institute of Geography RAS, 2000. pp. 36-41