Siberia as an example of optimal state control mechanisms
The article analyzes features of management of Siberia in the first quarter of the nineteenth century and compares them with the present. This emphasizes the relevance of research conducted in the article. The article shows that the Russian Empire had a unique experience in the management of large areas with a complex ethnic and religious composition. The authors argue that this experience may be in demand in the modern global world. The purpose of this article is to show the uniqueness of the Russian experience in the management of Siberia and other remote areas with a complex and diverse ethnic composition. The content of the article reflects the peculiarity of mechanisms of management of Russian regions on the example of Siberia, which combine both authoritarian methods characteristic for an absolute monarchy and self-government mechanisms. The authors show the management structure of the Siberian region in the first quarter of the 19th century, namely, the four-stage system of the Siberian Department. The first and highest level was the main control: the Governor General and his Council, the second stage was the provincial administration, the third stage was the district administration, and the fourth stage was the municipal administration. Throughout the article the authors emphasize the importance of considering the ethnic and national-cultural specificity of the inhabitants of Siberia, without which, as the authors argue, it would be impossible to manage the remote and diverse composition of the population of the territory. The article identified factors of control: political-geographical, socio-political, ethno-social. The article shows that in Siberia there were three main approaches to management: economic, territorial, demographic. The economic approach is due to the rich natural resources of Siberia. Territorial and demographic approaches are due to the complexity of managing the vast territory with sparse population. This complexity resulted in the trend of downsizing (division of Siberia into Western and Eastern). It is shown that the 20th century had a significant new approach: national formations. It is proved that the emergence of this approach was due to the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway and a significant increase in the population. Thus, the article concludes that in the control system there was a rejection of the division into East and West, there formed a single region in the 19th century, the Siberian territory was divided into autonomous districts on a national basis. In the 21st century, the global world greatly influenced the socio-economic development. There was a return to the economic approach in the management of Siberia generated in the first quarter of the 19th century, This emphasizes the optimality of the mechanism of management in the Siberian region and the importance of seeking prospects for control in the future.