The Issue of Centralization and Decentralization of Power in the Russian Historiography of the 1860s–1890s.

The relevance of the research topic, firstly, is due to the very problem of centralization and decentralization of power in the system of public administration. Secondly, the designated topic has not yet been the subject of a separate scientific study among historiographers. Thirdly, after the abolition of serfdom and the implementation of a number of liberal reforms in Russia, the issue of decentralization of power in the 1860s and 1890s became more relevant due to changes in public relations, world economic relations, and changes in the system of government itself. 
Purpose. To analyze the views of contemporaries of the 1860s and 1890s on administrative centralization and decentralization of power.  
Objectives: to identify the problems on a given topic in the works of Russian thinkers of the 1860s and 1890s; to describe the main conclusions of contemporaries regarding the administrative centralization and decentralization of power.  
Methodology. In the course of the study, the author applied methods of structural analysis, historicalcomparative, historical-system, logical and others. 
Results. The views of researchers from the 1860s and 1890s on the essence of administrative centralization and decentralization of power during and following the Great Reforms of Emperor Alexander II were considered. Special attention was paid to the analysis of the works of contemporaries devoted to the issues of self-government in the provinces of the Russian Empire as an element of administrative decentralization. A distinction is made between the concepts of political and administrative centralization and decentralization.  
Conclusion.  The reforms of Alexander II seriously revived the scientific community of the 1860s and 1890s on the issues of centralization and decentralization of power in relation to the reforms of local government in the provinces of Russia. In the 1870s and 1890s, works began to appear in the Russian press that were based on the first results of the Great Reforms, and problems arose regarding the scope of administrative centralization and decentralization of power in relation to crown authorities and local authorities. 

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