Mechanics of Government Reformism: A Note by Provincial Leader N. A. Maikov and the Practice of Adjusting the Legislation on Noblemen’s Elections in Russia in the First Third of the 19th Century

Abstract

As part of the examination of the formation processes of public sphere elements in Russia, this article studies the peculiarities of functioning of mechanisms of forward and backward communication in the system of management of the first third of the nineteenth century. In this context, the public sphere is seen as a network of actors and information channels that provide an opportunity for individuals to express various arguments when discussing the most pressing socio-political, economic, and moral issues. The author analyses the complex of records management materials and decrees related to the process of consideration and decision-making on the issues of adjusting the legislation on elections among the nobility. A reference to a note by N. A. Maykov, a provincial governor of the nobility, shows the arguments for the need to adjust the legislation on elections and the response to the proposals of the Minister of Internal Affairs, members of the Committee of Ministers, the State Council, and the Senate. A comparison of the reports of the marshals of the nobility, governors, records of meetings, legislation, preceding and following Maykov’s note, make it possible to formulate several important features of the functioning of feedback mechanisms in Russia in the period under consideration. The slow response to signals from the field happened because decisions were not always communicated to their direct implementers. This led to a duplication of requests and multiple discussions on the same issues, but in general did not prevent the institutions of power from being informed about the contradictions between the legislation and reality. This is confirmed by the results of a comparative analysis of the questions and proposals formulated by Maykov, with the content of subsequent decrees and the new “Regulations on the Order of Nobility Assemblies of Elections and Service on Them” of 1831.

Keywords

• история управления
• реформы в россии xix в.
• дворянское самоуправление
• дворянские выборы
• власть и общество
• губернское управление
• законодательство россии xix в.