The territorial and political structure of Russia in the XV-XIX centuries: features of evolution and optimization

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of Russia's territorial and political organization from the 15th to the 19th centuries, spanning the formation of the Muscovite state and the subsequent development of the Russian Empire. It traces the dynamics of relations between the center and the regions, revealing the factors that contributed to both the strengthening of central authority and the emergence of local autonomy. The study focuses on the dynamics of the relationship between the central government and the regions, identifying the key factors that determined both the processes of centralization aimed at strengthening autocratic power and the manifestations of regional autonomy and distinctiveness. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the influence of Byzantine political culture and the Mongol yoke on the formation of the political system of the Muscovite state. The role of the Boyar Duma, the prikaznaya system, and zemsky sobors in the development of statehood, their interaction with various social groups, and their influence on the distribution of powers are examined. The article also examines the Western Russian experience within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - an alternative model characterized by a decentralized structure and broad powers for local elites. It traces the transformation of state policy toward the national outlying regions, from the integration of local elites into the imperial space to the strengthening of unification and Russification trends. The specific features of regionalism in Siberia and the Cossack regions, conditioned by their geographical location and social and cultural characteristics, are analyzed. It is shown that by the end of the 19th century, the unitary model of territorial organization increasingly conflicted with the needs of socioeconomic development and the ethnocultural diversity of the empire, necessitating a rethinking of the existing system and a search for new forms of governance that would take into account the interests of the center and the regions.