National district of the Arctic zone of Yakutia: concepts and characteristics

In the global and local administrative practice, the national district is used as one of the forms of implementation of the state national policy in relation to ethnic minorities. In this article the authors consider the main conceptual provisions of this legal form, as well as the process of its formation in the historical and modern context. A comprehensive approach allows to achieve the goal of the article. In particular, the article makes extensive use of a systematic approach to consider the status of the national district, its historical and contemporary characteristics. Based on previous studies of national districts, as well as using materials from the political life of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the analysis of the formation of the status of the national district was carried out. The previous experience has demonstrated that formal declaration of new administrative units is not enough to support ethnic minorities. However, it is the first step towards public and socio-economic development of the district. In this regard, state support for national administrative-territorial formations is vital. These formations are designed to preserve indigenous culture, the traditional way of life, and historical monuments of the northern peoples. They also promote the development of regionally specific economic activities.