The County Commandant as an Institution of Administration and Acculturation (in Documents from the South-Eastern Frontiers of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 19th and the Early 20th Centuries)

Abstract

The article analyses, from the vantage point of the imperial policy of acculturation, the activity of the county commandant (uyezdnyi nachalnik), an administrative office which functioned in the Kazakh Steppe between 1868 and 1917. The article argues that since the inception of the office, the commandant became a pivotal figure in the administration of the south-eastern frontiers of Russia. The powers of the commandant were directly connected not only with the introduction of efficient local self-government, but also with the implementation of the policy of acculturation of local populations. The research is supported by the Russian National Fund (Project No 17-18-01008).