The Administrative System of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast (1920–1935): Acts of Constitutional Significance
https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2018-15-50-66
Abstract
The paper aims to examine the role of acts of constitutional significance within the administrative system of Kalmykia — one of Russia’s autonomies — between 1920 and 1935 when the region ranked as an autonomous oblast. Unlike autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts adopted no constitutions and related laws; still their activities were regulated by internal documents — in addition to laws and decrees of central authorities — and a most important role among the latter was played by acts of constitutional significance that determined the status of autonomous oblasts, structure and powers of their government bodies, issues of national self-determination, territories and borders of autonomies, etc. Though in the early Soviet period the RSFSR’s constitutional legislation acknowledged the right of autonomous oblasts to adopt respective Statutes of Autonomy, virtually none of them — for various reasons — passed such acts. Like the case with any other autonomous oblast, Kalmykia’s documents were fragmentary enough, this hampering the identification of acts of constitutional significance. The article concludes only a few unrelated regulatory resolutions virtually served as acts of constitutional significance that, coupled with federal ones, delineated a somewhat non-consolidated ‘minor constitution’ of the region.
About the Author
E. Gunaev
Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS (8, Ilishkin Str., Elista, 358000, Russian Federation)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ph.D. in Law (Cand. of Juridical Sc.), Senior Research Associate, Department of History, Ethnology and Archaeology
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Review
For citations:
Gunaev E. The Administrative System of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast (1920–1935): Acts of Constitutional Significance. Mongolian Studies. 2018;10(4):50-66. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2018-15-50-66
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