Vintskovskyi T. Formation and Activity of the First Local Authorities of the UNR in the South of Ukraine

Object: the public administration system in the first period of the UNR, which is regarded as part of the national revolution, as a separate phenomenon in the revolutionary processes in the lands of the former Russian Empire, along with the revolution of social, agricultural, cultural, etc., so the events are considered, people and the processes that contributed to the construction of the nation-state. Objective: to study the processes that took place in southern Ukraine in March 1917 – April 1918 in the framework of political and governmental transformations that have taken place as a result of the fall of the Russian Empire and became elements of both Russian and national revolution, the reconstruction of a complete picture of events in dichotomous interweaving of two state trends, the study of their driving forces and attempts to realization of the projects for the restructuring of the administrative apparatus in the region. Methods: historical-genetic, problem-chronological, comparative, biographical, static, dynamic, methods of description, classification, typology. The dissertation analyses the influence of the Russian revolution of 1917 on the transformation of the local government system, renewal of Ukrainian national societies, councils, committees and communities, as well as their efforts to create systems of representation aimed at bringing to life the Central Rada’s political doctrine. The dissertation explores the participation of Ukrainian parties in the municipal campaigns and elections to the Legislative Assembly, political struggle in the southern region under the circumstances of the Provisional Government’s fall and proclaiming of the UNR, formation of new administrative institutions which had coalitional nature. The evolution in the attitude of the local and district councils (zemstva) to the idea of restoration of the Ukrainian statehood is also traced. The dissertation studies the further development of the local administration in spring 1918 in the situation when the sovereignty of the UNR’s government was limited by the presence of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies.