Issue № 77. December 2019

Study of Moscow City Duma (1863–1869) Work in Russian Historiography

Postgraduate student, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: AnastaciaZueva@yandex.ru

Determining the place of local self-government in the system of state authorities of the Russian Federation remains relevant today. Reform is ongoing to further expand local authority. Attempts to establish and develop local self-government in Russia have been made quite from the early periods of the history of our state. The first serious attempts were made during the reign of Peter I and Catherine II. However, their reforms were unsuccessful and, by and large, were forgotten after the death of the rulers. The most effective reforms in this regard occurred in the middle of the 19th century, during the era of the Great Reforms of Alexander II. The present study covers the activities of Moscow city government, during the work of Prince Alexander Alekseevich Shcherbatov at the head of the Moscow City Council in 1863–1869. At that time, after the enactment of the Regulation “On Public Administration of the City of Moscow” in 1862, the local authorities gained a real power to manage the city (for example, the right to review and retain part of the taxes for city improvement). This issue has been repeatedly considered in Russian historiography. Among subjects in question there are the possibility of overcoming the estate principle in the electoral process and in the work of the Moscow City Duma in 1863–1869 and the study of certain aspects of the Duma in the specified period. Special attempts were made to determine the role of the personality of the head of the Moscow City Duma in the success of the reform. The opinions of researchers on this issue were divided, which is partially due to the various ideological and methodological approaches.

Keywords

Historiography, Moscow City Duma, Prince A.A. Shcherbatov, reform of the city government in 1863, local government, election campaign.

DOI:  10.24411/2070-1381-2019-10020