The Network of Zemstvo Glasnye: Sources of “Party Affiliation” in the Local Government

Abstract

The article discusses how the factions in Moscow Zemstvo and Perm Zemstvo assemblies were formed in the first three years of their activity since zemstvos were founded in the second half of the 19th century. These zemstovs have been chosen in order to compare the political structure of the local government both in the capital and in provinces as well as to evaluate the factor of proximity to the imperial institutions and political processes. Both zemstvos directed the life of their economically developed guberniyas, were “active” and their experience was transferred across Russia due to its fruitful results. Social networks inform about glasnye (deputies) who led discussions as well as the decision making process and zemstvos work. As a result, one can find universal and specific features of deputies’ political fragmentation. The research methodology is the network approach and the social network analysis which provided for simulating interaction structures, identifying deputy groups and analyzing them. The authors have studied all journals of Moscow and Perm Zemstvos regular and emergency meetings held during the first three-year period of their activity and have singled out specific discussions. To study personal links they have collected auxiliary data sets providing information about deputies’ personal participation as well as the issues discussed. The study is the first to group glasnye, analyze their cliques and compare peculiar features of zemstvo meetings understudy. In general, the social network analysis supports the idea that personal activity at zemstvo meetings was more effective than the group one at the initial stage. This is supported by the voting results analysis as well. The formation of factions was also greatly hindered by social and political views of zemstvo members.