Administrative-territorial division of Russia: history and modernity

Administrative-territorial division is one of the main components of the concept of "state form". The practice of the leading states, as well as the diverse experience of our country, prove that the country's socio-economic development and well-being depend on how competently the country is organized in a territorial sense.

Administrative-territorial division in modern conditions is a complex set of state and legal institutions, through which not only the general management of this territory is carried out, but also the necessary political, ideological and socio-economic basis for further development of society is laid.

The administrative-territorial division of Russia in the period of the empire was almost completely finalized under Catherine II. It was in her reign that the entire country was divided into 50 provinces, which in turn were divided into counties. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the administrative-territorial division of Russia at that time relied not on a national or any historical feature, but exclusively on the number of people. So, the gubernia included territory, on which lived from 300 to 400 thousand people.

This territorial division of Russia pursued several goals at once. On the one hand, such territories were much easier to manage, maintaining security on them and forcing the local population to pay taxes. On the other hand, almost identical in terms of the number of people living in the land brought, in terms of taxes, almost identical tax, so there were no strong disparities in the socio-economic development of individual territories. Finally, thirdly, the division of the lands where representatives of a particular nationality lived compactly, in several provinces, in the opinion of the central authorities, should have drastically reduced their desire for independence and separatism.

Absolutely on other principles, carrying out administrative-territorial division of Russia, the leaders of the Soviet period rested. On the one hand, they placed the economic rationale for the allocation of certain territories and regions at the forefront, and on the other hand, the leaders of both the USSR and the RSFSR could no longer just dismiss the desire of a number of ethnic groups to get at least cultural and territorial autonomy . Sometimes these tendencies were in contradiction with each other, which led to the most varied changes in the territorial structure of our country.

Thus, in the first years of Soviet power, the process of unbundling the old tsarist provinces took place, which led to the emergence of such regions as Sverdlovsk, Cherepovets or Tsaritsyn. In addition, during the same period, new state entities were actively appearing, which few people today remember - the Commune of the Germans of the Volga region, the North Caucasian Republic, the Lithuanian-Belarusian Republic, and others.

Subsequently, all this administrative-territorial diversity was replaced by a clear structure that provided for a three-level system of governance: the region (the region) - the districts - the districts. After the mid-1930's. The division into districts was deemed inexpedient, the administrative-territorial division of the RSFSR took the form in which it existed before the collapse of the USSR.

The territorial division of the Russian Federation, having inherited much from the Soviet period, has changed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In particular, instead of 16 autonomous republics that were part of the RSFSR, now in Russia there are 21 republics, the rights and freedoms of which have significantly expanded.

Almost all autonomous regions, with the exception of the Jewish one, and the autonomous regions also received the status of the republics, sharply distinguishing themselves from the edges and regions. The new status of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is underscored not only by the Constitution adopted in 1993, but also by bilateral treaties that were concluded between the Center and the regions in the 1990s.

The administrative-territorial division of Russia is going through a very difficult period at the moment. This is due, on the one hand, to the fact that most of the entities can not independently fulfill their social obligations, and on the other hand, the fact that tension and the danger of the development of separatist sentiments in a number of national republics remain.