INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK POLICY FORMATION CONCERNING THE AUTONOMY OF SUBCARPATHIAN RUS IN 1919 – 1921

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to elucidate the internal and external factors of the Czechoslovak Republic policy formation concerning the autonomy of Subcarpathian Rus (the Transcarpathian region) in 1919 – 1921. The research methodology is based on a combination of general scientific (systematization, analysis and synthesis, abstraction, generalization) and special historical (historical systemic, historical critical, historical comparative, historical typological, specific problematic) and interdisciplinary research methods, taking into account the principles of historicism, systematicity, scientificity and verification. The scientific novelty consists in the authors’ attempt to highlight the specified issue based on the latest historiographical heritage, as well as published and unpublished sources. Due to the study of the above-mentioned materials, it was possible to analyze the influence of external and internal factors on the Czechoslovak policy formation concerning the autonomous status of Subcarpathian Rus objectively. The Conclusion. Thus, the complex internal and external circumstances of the region’s integration into the Czechoslovak Republic led to the development of a new administrative system under the conditions of the military dictatorship that lasted in 1919 – 1922. Autonomous regional institutions were not fully developed in the First Czechoslovak Republic. There was no even comprehensive programme for a gradual introduction of autonomy by the authorities of the Czechoslovak Republic. The administrative system development was carried out under conditions of putting off the implementation of the constitutional provisions on autonomy. Despite the fact that there were objective reasons for this state of affairs, due to the presence of the ChSR leadership’s subjective views on the issue of autonomy as a possible factor of destabilization in a multinational country, and in particular, in Subcarpathian Rus, the disappointment of representatives of all political circles in the region resulted in the development of the autonomist movement, which became the centre of the region’s political life during the interwar period.