PROBLEMS AND TRENDS OF THE LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE DURING THE WORLD WAR I

Abstract

During World War I, the state of local government had a significant impact on both the country's defense efforts and social stability. In the tightly centralized Russian Empire during the World War I, a decentralizing tendency towards the development of state administration was observed: transfer of power and managerial powers to lower or autonomous entities. Under the influence of the needs of total war, the importance of the governing structures of the region is increasing. Additional state-wide functions related to the country's defense are delegated to the regional level, and features of the relative isolation of managerial and economic structures are reinforced. During World War I, the governor, endowed with additional powers in accordance with the Emergency Protection Regulations, became the main figure in managing all sectors of the province life. The importance of the personal factor in local government is increasing. It is known that during the war years the rotation of the governor corps is becoming more frequent, but its scale and causes remain poorly understood. The study conducted allows us to draw the first important conclusions regarding the personal composition of the governor corps of 50 provinces of European Russia during the First World War.