FORMATION OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN THE 1990s: TO THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE ISSUE
Authors: Kuznetsov Anton K. 
Published: November 2024

At the present stage of municipal reform, scientific conceptual elaboration of the topic of local self-government organization in the Russian Federation, the analysis of the historical evolution passed by this level of public power are deemed to be important. Local self-government includes not only the definition of principles, foundations, and delineation of authorities, but also law enforcement practice, experience in organizing various forms of government by the local community, and models of local authority in certain regions of Russia and municipalities.

The purpose of the study is to present a historiographical overview of local government system formation in the Russian Federation in the 1990s.

Materials and methods. The research was based on the principles of scientificity, objectivity and a comprehensive analysis of scientific papers on local self-government issues in Russia. A chronological method was used to identify changes in the development of scientific trends. The historical-comparative method contributed to the comparison of scientific ideas, models and concepts of the development of local self-government reflected in the works of researchers. This made it possible to identify the main approaches and trends, to identify gap issues, and to formulate proposals for inclusion in the scientific agenda on this issue.

Research results. The historiography of the local self-government system formation in the Russian Federation seems to be very extensive and multidimensional. Interdisciplinarity is confirmed by a significant contribution of lawyers, economists, political scientists, cultural scientists, sociologists, and philosophers. The research of historians is multifaceted, their works are devoted to both individual aspects in forming the local self-government, the electoral process at the local level, the activities of local authorities and individual officials, as well as complex issues of perceiving the government, the local community and evolution of the local self-government system.

The analysis of historiography made it possible to identify the most controversial issues of the 1990s: the newly intensified struggle between “supporters of firm state authority” and “community activists”, the role of local councils and possibility of their transformation; periodization of local self-government formation; comparison of organizational models of local self-government that existed in Russia in different periods of its history, as well as comparison with foreign experience; delineation of powers of federal, regional and local authorities, the constitutional and legal status of local self-government and law enforcement practice, etc.

The emergence of individual historical studies devoted to the regional experience in forming local self-government is important (the city of Moscow, the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Mari El, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, the Udmurt Republic, the Chuvash Republic, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Kursk, Moscow, Rostov, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Irkutsk regions, Altai, Krasnodar, Stavropol Krais, regions of the Far East, etc.).

A separate pool of research is devoted to urban self-government, implementation of the principle of powers separation in large cities, as well as formation of territorial public self-government in certain regions.

Conclusions. The presented research works note the important role of the Russian Federation’s subjects in implementing the municipal reform, in forming the network of municipal structures, defining the subjects of reference and the financial and economic component of municipalities. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that it is necessary for the historical science to pay attention to the issues of comparative analysis of regional experience, evolution of various forms of implementing local self-government by the population, institutionalization of local self-government in the public authorities system and a number of others. The development of comprehensive historical studies covering the entire period of modern history on the issues of local self-government organization in the Russian Federation from 1990 up to the present is considered to be relevant.