№ 1 - 2004
Turovsky R.F.
The Problem of Centralization and the Models of Russian Regional Politics in the 13th to 16th Centuries

An attempt is made to retrace the genesis of Russian regional politics in the period of the formation of centralized state. At the initial stage of this process, the author notes, the principalities figured as, practically, independent units of an amorphous confederation nominally headed by a Grand Duke. The search for an efficient formula securing subordination in their relations, in R.F.Turovsky’s opinion, begins under Dmitry of the Don, or Dmitry the Donskoy (1359 to 1389), when Moscow takes the way of concluding treaties with appanage principalities, fixing their subordinate position. Under Ivan the 3d (1462 to 1505) and Vasily the 3d (1505 to 1533), a transitive model of administering the territories takes shape: the number of appanages decreases and, at the same time, the institution of the Grand Duke’s deputies forms. It is, furthermore, to the reign of Ivan the Terrible that the genesis of a cardinally new model of regional politics is attributed: under him, R.F.Turovsky stresses, resolute removal of the remnants of the appanage system is undertaken, in combination, moreover, with the dismantling of the deputies administration system.