Who Owns the City? Self-Governance in the South of Ukraine in 1785-1917

We invite you to the lecture by researcher Oleksandr Cheremisin on city self-governance in the South of Ukraine in 1785-1917.

The general idea of municipal self-government is based on the principle of decentralization, but at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this approach did not correspond to the prevailing views of the Russian bureaucracy of that time. The rapid modernization and trade development of the southern cities of the region in the early nineteenth century required the construction of railroads, yet the state, in many ways, restrained socioeconomic development. In the meantime, public institutions of authority were already considering themselves self-sufficient organisms and expressed dissatisfaction with imperial legislation and tsarist bureaucracy, and, therefore, actively participated in the processes of autonomization of governance away from the governorate administration and state authorities.

The research mainly focuses on public figures and other local self-government actors, namely their statuses, images, and behavioral typology. Active members of city dumas who defended the interests of communities, space modernization, and overall urban development turned their work into a professional activity. In addition, the researcher will pay attention to the corruption and bribery of the time, both at the individual level and in various forms of misuse of the city budget.

The discussion will also cover municipal budgetary policy, education and medicine (the local government of the South of Ukraine constantly advocated for the right to free medical treatment and education), the modernization of the engineering and technical sphere of the economy, and other aspects of the city life of that time.

Credits

Cover Image: Kherson City Duma, project: architect A.B. Minkus, 1900 // Blog on architecture of Ukraine Antique

Gallery: Oleksandr Korman