Economic policy of the zemstvo system in the Middle Volga region and development of entrepreneurship in Russia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries: historiography of the issue

A significant number of studies on the economic policy of Zemstvo selfgovernment in Russia in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of 20th centuries exist in the prerevolutionary, Soviet and modern Russian historiography. For example, in the works of the second half of 19th and early 20th centuries. This very article reviewed and analyzed various aspects of the activity of zemstvo in the agricultural sector, in the sphere of finance and credit, in production and cooperation. Soviet authors have paid more attention to the issues of class struggle in the zemstvo institutions in the conditions of the development of capitalist relations in Russia. Only according to the modern Historiography we can talk about a comprehensive analysis of the economic activity of the Zemstvo system in terms of economic modernization of pre-revolutionary Russia. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of different approaches to the problem of the zemstvo economic policy and business development at different stages of historiography. Particular attention will be paid to the concept of «entrepreneurship», and the attempt to provide the historiographical analysis of Zemstvo will be the first activity undertaken in the context of the development of market relations of Russia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.