The Northwestern Outskirts of Russia in the Policies of the Russian Authorities and Social Thought of the Late Imperial Period: A Historiographical Aspect

The article undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the latest domestic historiography devoted to the study of government policy and social thought in relation to the North-Western Territory and the Baltic provinces in the second half of the 19th -early 20th centuries.New trends and research approaches in the study of this issue have been identified, presented in the current format of journal scientific publications.It is noted that modern research retains echoes of discussions of previous decades about the role of the imperial center in the development of national outskirts, attempts continue to determine the reasons for the turn in the national policy of the Russian Empire in the late imperial period, new subjects are being developed related to identifying the degree of public influence on the process of making management decisions in in relation to the northwestern marginal regions.It is concluded that in the latest scientific literature there is a noticeable tendency to identify the unification aspirations of the Russian authorities, aimed at erasing the legal and administrative differences between the western outskirts and the central provinces of Russia.At the same time, the focus of research attention is increasingly focused on the efforts of the Russian administration aimed at supporting and developing local non-dominant ethnic groups, as well as representatives of the titular nation who find themselves on the outskirts in the position of a national minority.The approach proposed in this historiographical review, which assumes the northwestern outlying regions of the Russian Empire as an object of intellectual consideration and scientific understanding, as a single space, the integrity of which was determined by the use of common integrative practices, as well as the integrity of its perception in Russian social thought, opens up for researchers new opportunities for the use of comparative methods in the study of this region.