Local government models in Eastern Siberia (late 18th - early 19th centuries)

There are different estimates of the local government reform of Catherine II by European and Russian researchers. Russian researchers believe that The Charter on the Rights and Benefits of Cities of the Russian Empire, 21 April 1785 is a sample of the good intentions of the sovereign. European researchers believe that Catherine took a step forward with respect to the modern state formation. She separated justice and management and gave the cities broad self-government. The beginning of Catherine's administration and city reforms coincided with the time of the administrative-territorial development of Siberia, especially in its Eastern part. A model for the urban development in Eastern Siberia was the accumulated experience in the management of cities in the European part of the Russian Empire. The provincial city was to elect the city chief, the magistrates and the city mayor. The county town was to elect the city chief and the magistrates. The article classified Irkutsk, Kirensk, Verkhneudinsk, Nizhneudinsk and Krasnoyarsk as the cities of Eastern Siberia on the basis of the historical experience of the city development. The system of local government was formed in Eastern Siberia in the last quarter of the 18th century. This process coincided with the formation and development of new county centers in Irkutsk Province: Kirensk, Nizhneudinsk and Verkhneudinsk, which became cities in 1783. Municipal self-government was the City Duma in Irkutsk, the city mayor in Krasnoyarsk, the bourgeois chief in Kirensk and Nizhneudinsk, the City Hall and the City Mayor in Verkhneudinsk in the late 18th century. The City Duma was elected in Krasnoyarsk in 1804. The City Hall was opened in Kirensk in 1807. It moved from Ilimsk. Irkutsk became a populous city, Verkhneudinsk became a medium-sized town, Nizhneudinsk and Kirensk became porly populated cities, and Krasnoyarsk became a provincial center of the new Yenisei Province after the reform of M.M. Speransky. A full provincial city was Irkutsk with all elected positions according to the law. Verkhneudinsk was a full county town. Krasnoyarsk became a raunty town with a parliamentary government in 1804. There were no elected magistrates in Kirensk and Nizhneudinsk. Irkutsk City Duma took on the responsibility for urban development of other cities of Irkutsk Province, Nizhneudinsk and Balagansk. The Siberian reform of M.M. Speransky legislatively confirmed the already established local government model in the framework of the separation power theory in the Eastern Siberian cities.

Keywords

Authors

References