Practices of Adapting the Russian model of Administrative Management on the Territory of the Kazakh Steppe in the second half of the 19th century (based on materials from the Turgai Region)

The adoption of the "Steppe Regulation" in 1891 contributed to the completion of the formation of the Russian model of administrative management in the Kazakh steppe, but did not solve many problems with the practical implementation of local governance.The article attempts to consider the decisions of the Turgai region administration taken to organize the effective work of public institutions of the Kazakh nomadic volosts.The source base of the study was formed by regulatory and legal documents regulating the activities of local government bodies in the Kazakh steppe and office materials from the funds of the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan.The mechanisms for implementing the administrative policy of the Russian Empire in the national outskirts, in particular on the territory of the Turgai region in the second half of the 19th century are considered based on the methodological guidelines of the new social history and the new imperial history.The introduction of collegial bodies of volost and aul governance in the Kazakh steppe, in its content, extended the model of public administration carried out in the central provinces of the Russian Empire to Kazakh society, but problems arose that required local authorities to make decisions based on the specifics of local conditions.At the local level, there were difficulties in relations with Kazakh public officials, due to their lack of knowledge of the Russian language.Another problematic issue that required a solution, according to Russian officials, was the dominance of family ties in the formation of the apparatus for governing Kazakh nomadic volosts.Through a comparative analysis of the articles of the "Steppe Regulations" of March 25, 1891 and the Instructions to volost governors, aul elders, volost and aul congresses of the Turgai region of 1894, it is examined how these and other issues are resolved, how the model of Russian administrative management is adapted to local characteristics.