The Kalmyk steppe and the inner Kyrgyz Horde in the 19th – early 20th centuries: models of administrative management

The study of the peculiarities of administrative management in the 19th and early 20th centuries for the Kalmyk steppe and the Kyrgyz Inner Horde in Russian historiography was carried out, as a rule, separately, which is explained by the differences between Kalmyks and Kazakhs by origin and religion. At the same time, they were united by living within the same Russian province, Astrakhan, and a nomadic lifestyle. Accordingly, the tasks of the imperial government to introduce the nomads to a sedentary lifestyle and, in general, to integrate them into the all-Russian legal field were seen as the same. This raises the research problem of studying the management practices of these peoples, finding common features and differences. The purpose of the article is to analyze the administrative management models of these entities from the perspective of a comparative approach in the context of the general evolution of public administration in relation to the national outskirts of the south-east of the Russian Empire. The use of an institutional approach makes it possible to analyze administrative management models and determine the stages of the historical development of state and public institutions, the power institutions of the Kalmyk Steppe and the Kyrgyz Inner Horde in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Such forms as viceroyalty, bailiffship, and guardianship are considered as models. Three management models can be traced in relation to these ethnopolitical formations: viceroyalty, bailiffship and guardianship. Among the Astrakhan Kalmyks, these models are replaced one after another; among the Kazakhs of the Inner Horde, in the first half of the 19th century, they were used along with one another, as if forming simultaneously. In fact, this was one model of guardianship, which was implemented first by appointing a governor or bailiff, then completely transferred to the Ministry of State Property, then Internal Affairs with an appropriate management structure. At the grassroots and middle management levels, the ulus (Golden Horde, Mongolian) management system was used, taking into account the tribal structure of nomadic societies. It was only at the beginning of the 20th century that the transition to the all-Russian management model began, implying the introduction of the Zemstvo, which was never completed.