A number of concepts that are close in meaning and meaning help to describe the formal-political structure of any country. This is the "administrative-territorial structure", and the "administrative-territorial organization", and the "administrative-territorial division" (ATD).
What is the territorial division of the country and how does it happen?
As a rule, ADT is a concept with a fairly wide semantic load. Administrative division can be understood as a map of the country, consisting of their individual entities. The political and geographical plan of the state is the most widespread embodiment of the ATD, which, in addition, can be perceived as a process of directly dividing the country's territory into separate units. The zoning procedure and the implementation of the ATD are largely similar, but the main difference between them is that the administrative-territorial units (ATU - the main element of the ATD structure) are established only by state bodies. The fixing of the borders of each subject is carried out at the official level and is confirmed by the relevant regulatory legal acts.
How are administrative-territorial units formed?
An administrative territorial unit in a country is most often considered a region. Meanwhile, the administrative-territorial division has a voluminous system that operates exclusively according to the hierarchical principle. As a “nesting doll”, the ATD system represents the presence of several managerial steps. Each level has its own political and administrative structure.
The totality of territorial units of the first, second, third order, etc., ordered by the ATD system, is characteristic of all modern states. The division into various levels at all times could be periodic, giving way to a degree of complexity and sophistication. Stable permanent administrative-territorial division is a characteristic feature of only the modern state. Meanwhile, under the constancy, we can consider the distribution of the country's territories with virtually no balance at the official level for individual segments (regions) that are not dependent on each other. The power, as a rule, in each of them most often represents the state, but often each administrative territorial unit has the right to self-government or autonomy.
The historical impact on the formation of the ADT system
The division of the state into certain segments is a phenomenon that has quite ancient roots and a long history. The most striking example of ATD can be called a section on the provinces of the Roman Empire. As for the period of feudalism, here, on the contrary, constant feuds prevented the formation of permanent units. This model of government implied a characteristic division into cities, where feudal lords-farmers ruled.
Being the ruler and the owner of the land in one person, the representative of the highest class automatically became the owner of the territories and the manager of the ATU.
What affects the process of administrative regionalization of the state?
Unlike the medieval structure of the state, today almost all modern developed powers use the administrative division system. The transition from feudalism to centralized power has become an explicit requirement for a radical revision of the methods for determining territories.
The status of administrative-territorial units is largely determined by the characteristics of the regional structure. Since this system, as already mentioned, has been formed over a long time and is a consequence of the most complex evolutionary processes, an administrative territorial unit can be formed by superimposing gradations of different origins on each other.
In particular, in Russia, each regional district is a combination of structures:
- ethnocultural;
- historical;
- socio-political;
- economic;
- natural-geographical.
Ethnicity as one of the factors in the formation of the territorial borders of regions
Ethnocultural factors play an important role in the formation of a system as a separate unit of ATD. On the territory of the Russian state, this principle was one of the fundamental. A characteristic feature of the formation of ethnocultural areas is that they are formed regardless of the will of the sovereign figures, their desires. Each link in the ATD system, based on this principle, has an identity, representing an explicit cell of a regional structure.
However, not wanting the emergence of separatist sentiments and at the same time not fulfilling the requirements of national minorities, a state with a multinational population often restricts itself from such problems by establishing a habitat for a particular ethnic circle of citizens.
Another reason for the formation of regions with a population of a certain nationality is the impossibility of establishing a clear border dividing one or another habitat of ethnic groups.
How has history influenced the definition of individual ATEs?
The next prerequisite for the formation of territorial units is administrative division based on historical factors. Regions within a single state are often folded several centuries ago, preserving which residents and state authorities, as it were, pay tribute to national traditions. The name of the territorial administrative unit, the territories of which are clearly identified due to the development of sustainable structures, is not difficult to guess. Such areas are called historical. It is believed that the administrative-territorial unit of the state can bear this name if its borders have remained unchanged for about the last 2-3 centuries.
It is worth noting that the factors of the historical relationship of specific geographical areas during the implementation of the ATD are not difficult to trace in the structures of the states of the Old World. And if the borders of the countries of the medieval era could not remain static, then the structures of individual regions remained stable, passing to other rulers in their original form. Modern Europe, according to most historians, is based on compact segments defined by specific territorial cells even under the feudal form of government.
Other factors of the administrative-territorial division of the country
Socio-political and economic factors affect the territorial structure of the country no less than the above reasons. The principles of resettlement are based on the so-called nodal areas. A large administrative-territorial unit has always been a zone of predominant gravity of the country's inhabitants. The system "center-periphery" is formed, as a rule, based on their geographical orientations of settlements and a stable relationship between other nodal areas.
The demographic factors, which are the socio-political and economic principles of the ATD, are easy to notice when forming regions in states with a less pronounced ethnocultural and historical structure. Most often, such countries are the young powers of the unitary device. Examples of such states may be the countries of central-eastern Europe.
An administrative territorial unit may be formed as a result of the influence of natural and geographical objects on the ADT process. For example, island or mountain regions of states can become a vivid example.
Features of the administrative-territorial structure in Russia
ATD of the Russian Federation is the most important component of the regional organization of the country. The whole system of government, distribution and arrangement of power bodies, self-government structures and public associations is based on political and administrative separation. Today, the territorial structure of Russia is largely due to the boundless expanses of the state, as well as the widest variety of all factors influencing the formation of ATEs: demographic, economic, natural, ethnocultural.
The principles of territorial division in Russia
The administrative-territorial units of Russia fully comply with the federal state system. In addition, ADT in the Russian Federation is carried out in another direction - municipal.
In addition to the administrative-territorial division necessary for the orderly implementation of the functions of the sovereign governing bodies, the country's zoning system implies division into segments for convenient implementation of local self-government.
Specificity of ADT in some areas and the capital
In Russia, these approaches to the ratio of managerial division and distribution of municipalities can be expressed:
- By combining two methods of regional formation (it is understood that the boundaries of municipalities will coincide with the boundaries of administrative regions). For example, according to this scheme, the ADT in the Chelyabinsk region is determined.
- The complete legal discrepancy between the two varieties of methods of territorial division (the boundaries of municipalities and administrative units may vary). For example, in the Sverdlovsk region, ATD was produced according to this principle.
In addition to these options for the division of territories, separate additional levels may be provided for in certain constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In particular, the capital of the Russian state is divided by the method of municipal determination of districts (146 intracity territories of a city of federal significance) and 12 administrative districts.