LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN SOUTHERN UKRAINE IN THE 19TH CENTURY: INTELLECTUAL PRACTICES OF MUNICIPAL ELITES IN THE PROCESSES OF MODERNIZATION AND THE FORMATION OF THE URBAN PUBLIC SPHERE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32999/ksu2786-5118/2026-54-4Keywords:
Southern Ukraine, urban self-government, municipality, representatives, intellectual history, microhistoryAbstract
The aim of this study is to examine the intellectual activities of local government representatives in southern Ukraine during the 19th and early 20th centuries as a means for shaping public opinion. Scientific novelty. This article analyzes the activities of local government in southern Ukraine from a social perspective. Within the framework of this study, the historical process is examined not as the evolution of political institutions, but through the lens of the intellectual history of the activities of local government representatives in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Research methodology. Methodologically, this study is based on a human-centered approach, which was applied to analyze the individual of municipal employees through the lens of the diversity of their experiences, allowing for the exploration of self-government as a personal phenomenon. The human-centered approach is complemented by a local research method, which makes it possible to highlight the uniqueness and individuality of each local government unit and outline its spatial configuration at the social level, thereby shedding light on the cultural dimension. Within the framework of local history, the concept of microhistory is employed, which helped explain the work of specific historical figures in unconventional contexts. The study focuses primarily on analyzing and reinterpreting the experience of self-governing institutions in southern Ukraine. Conclusions. The findings indicate that the intellectual work of local government deputies in southern Ukraine deserves attention, as it embodies the experience of the practical implementation of municipal work at the local level. Their work, for the most part, is not purely academic but applied. They convey information and draw upon sources that, unfortunately, have not survived to the present day. Various aspects of practical self-governing activities are conveyed and characterized through the prism of the authors’ personal perceptions of the period under study.
References
Braslavky P.O. (1860). O nastoyashem polozhenii obshestvennogo upravleniya v g. Odesse [On the Current State of Public Administration in the City of Odessa.]. Odessa, 23 р. [in Russian]
Vinogradov V. (1884). Feodosiya (istoricheskij ocherk) [Feodosia (A Historical Essay)]. Feodosiya: Tip. FUZ, 153 р. [in Russian]
Vladimirov M. (1887). Pervoe stoletie g. Ekaterinoslava (materialy dlya istoricheskogo ocherka) [The First Century of Yekaterinoslav (materials for a historical essay)]. Ekaterinoslav: Tip. Ya. Chausskago, 281 p. [in Russian]
Ge. G. (1890). Istoricheskij ocherk stoletnego sushestvovaniya g. Nikolaeva pri uste Ingula [Historical Essay on the Centennial Existence of the City of Mykolaiv at the Mouth of the Inhul River]. Nikolaev: Russkaya tipografiya, 129 p. [in Russian]
Gorlovsky D. (1890). Itogi 25-letiya Hersonskogo gorodskogo samoupravleniya [Results of the 25th Anniversary of Kherson City Self-Government]. Herson: Tipo-lit. O. Hodushinoj, 183 p. [in Russian]
Dorosheva A.O. (2009). Samovriaduvannia v prymorskykh mistakh Pivdnia Ukrainy u druhii polovyni XIX st [Self-Government in the Coastal Cities of Southern Ukraine in the Second Half of the 19th Century]: dys. kand. ist. nauk: 07.00.01. Odesa, 195 s. [in Ukrainian]
Zlenko H. (1997). Pavlo Zeleny – odeskyi miskyi holova i literator [Pavlo Zeleny-Mayor of Odesa and Writer]. Kyivska starovyna. № 6. S. 106-111. [in Ukrainian]
Zeleny P. (1890). Gorodskaya yusticiya nakanune reformy [Municipal Justice on the Eve of Reform]. Odessa: Tip. A. Shulce, 10 s. [in Russion]
Zeleny P., Albrandt, A, De-Azart K. (1890). Odessa 1794-1894. K stoletiyu goroda [Odessa 1794–1894. On the City’s Centennial]. Odessa: Tip. A. Shulce, 140 s. [in Russian]
Komarnicky K. (1849). Istoricheskij ocherk obshih grazhdanskih uchrezhdenij Novorossijskogo kraya. Godichnyj akt v Rishelevskom licee [Historical Essay on General Civil Institutions of the Novorossiysk Region]. Odessa, S. 3-70. [in Russian]
Krot V.O., Shabunina V.V. (2019). Dzherela do istorii Kremenchutskoho povitovoho zemstva [Sources on the History of the Kremenchug County Zemstvo]. Naukovi pratsi istorychnoho fakultetu Zaporizkoho natsionalnoho universytetu. Vyp. 52. T. 1. S. 85-90. DOI: 10.26661/swfh-2019-52-013 [in Ukrainian]
Marchenko O.M. (2019). Porivnialna kharakterystyka vyborchoi systemy za miskymy reformamy dlia Odesy 1863, 1870, 1892 rr. [Comparative Analysis of the Electoral System Under the Municipal Reforms for Odesa in 1863, 1870, and 1892]. Naukovi pratsi istorychnoho fakultetu Zaporizkoho natsionalnoho universytetu. Vyp. 52. T. 1. S. 91-98. DOI: 10.26661/swfh-2019-52-014 [in Ukrainian]
Pashutin A. (1897). Istoricheskij ocherk g. Elisavetgrada [Historical Essay on the City of Elisavetgrad]. Elisavetgrad: Lito-tip. Br. Shpolinskih, 309 s. [in Russian]
Tsybulenko L.O. (2001). Diialnist orhaniv samovriaduvannia Odesy, Mykolaieva, Khersona shchodo formuvannia i rozvytku munitsypalnoi zemelnoi i vyrobnychoi vlasnosti v XIX – na pochatku XX stolit [Activities of the Local Governments of Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson Regarding the Formation and Development of Municipal Land and Industrial Property in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries]: dys. kand. ist. nauk: 07.00.01. Dnipropetrovsk, 180 s. [in Ukrainian]
