Становлення інституту губернаторської влади на Волині (кінець XVIII – друга половина XІX ст.)

• Authors: Бортніков Валерій

Title variants

EN

The Establishment of the Governor’s Power in Volyn (the end of XVIII – the Second Half of the XIX century)

• Languages of publication: UK

Abstracts

EN

Many scientific works are lack the specific historical material, but complex, multidimensional processes of Ukrainian state are often considered after simplified traditional schemes, without taking into account regional specificity, due to the prolonged stay of Ukrainian lands in the structure of other state formations. The process of the institution establishment of the provincial government attached from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth territories is stipulated by the policy of the tsarist government aimed at strengthening of the centralized management of the Russian Empire. It acquired the concentrated shape in the «theory of official nationality», which envisaged the integration of autocracy, orthodoxy and nation into the «united and indivisible» Russia. The policy of the central authorities was determined as well by the struggle for spheres of influence between the «Russian imperialism» and by the Polish landowners’ elite, the attempt to tear the Ukrainian population from the Polish revolutionary movement. Catherine II considered each province as a governorship, and therefore at each of them appointed “the sovereign’s Viceroy or the Governor-General and subordinate to him «the ruler of the governorship or the Governor». Later, «the Governor of province or Governor became to be known as civil Governor. The latter had subordinated for the management of economic affairs «the Lieutenant Governor or Vice-Governor”. As a rule, the Governors-General were as well commanders of military districts. On the outskirts of the Empire, the Governor-General are not so much watched, but rather directed the state policy in a certain direction, as a kind of «repeater» of the cultural activities of the state, and in some places its founder. In the North-Western and South-Western region governors-General primarily pursued political goals: «to prevent the possibility of an armed uprising and to tighten the connection of the land with the Empire». The direct management of the province was exercised by civil governors. An important step in determining their place and role in the hierarchy of the higher ranks of the Empire, and a careful regulation of their activities was the «General instructions of the civil governors» (1837) Nicholas I. The order clearly defined the legal status of these governors primarily as «security guards inviolability of the supreme rights of the autocracy.» At the same time they had no right t to «make regulations..., install, taxes or charges», and they are not allowed to change court verdicts or to assume the functions of judges. The order stated the provisions of the welfare of the inhabitants of the province, their protection from unlawful harassment. One of the powerful levers of state policy in the Russian Empire was the Orthodox Church and faith; it is no accident that the civil Governor was given the responsibility in the ensuring favorable conditions for strengthening, protection from the split, the influence of heretical doctrines and facts of the proselytism. At the heart of the provincial institutions there was the principle of their division into administrative, judicial and financial. Full executive power belonged to the provincial government, headed by the civil Governor. The Job title of the provincial Prosecutor, the provincial solicitors for criminal and civil cases, provincial land surveyor, architect, etc. had been founded. Beside the provincial board, the Governor headed a significant part of other provincial agencies. The Governor, who was appointed by the Emperor at his discretion or on the proposal of the Ministry of internal affairs, was formally the head of the local provincial administration. He was the highest representative of the administrative and police authorities in the province, had broad administrative and supervisory credentials.

Keywords

EN

Volyn; Russian empire; autocracy; province; the Governor-General; the civil Governor

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Naukowe w Żytomierzu
• Journal: Studia Politologica Ucraino-Polona
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 6
• Pages: 192-199

Contributors

author

Бортніков Валерій

• Східноєвропейський національний університет імені Лесі Українки (Луцьк, Україна)