ГЕНЕРАЛ-ГУБЕРНАТОРСКИЕ И ГУБЕРНАТОРСКИЕ ОБОЗРЕНИЯ ЗАПАДНОЙ СИБИРИ И СТЕПНОГО КРАЯ: ДИСКУССИЯ ОБ ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ

Abstract

Acquaintance with the features and condition of the territories under their jurisdiction was an integral part of the activities of the governors-general and governors of the Russian Empire. They had to have reliable information about the state of affairs on the ground: about the situation in the field of education, local government, and the activities of county institutions. The methodological basis of the study was the principle of consistency, the anthropological approach and the comparative historical method. Thanks to this theoretical set, the inspection work of specific governors has been studied in an analytical manner, as part of managerial activity. The article draws attention to the surveys of the provinces and regions of Western Siberia and the Steppe Territory, made by governors-general and governors at the beginning of the 20th century. Studying the region during business trips was supposed to help them solve current issues, as well as outline the prospects for the development of the region, justify for the central government the timeliness and necessity of solving pressing problems in the field of management, medicine, office work, etc. Governors in official documents noted the importance of reviews for the implementation of their activities, but at the same time, their effectiveness in the periodical press was questioned. It is obvious that the legally enshrined provision pursued good goals, but, as often happens, its implementation in practice was far from ideal. In this regard, it seems that the effectiveness of the reviews depended on a number of factors, both objective and subjective: the personal qualities of governors and governors-general, the size of the province or region, the state of communications, the time spent in office.