Oblast
Oblast (
Czech: oblast,
Slovak: oblasť, , ,
Bulgarian: о́бласт) refers to a
subnational entity in some countries. Possible
English translations of the word are
area,
zone,
province or
region. In terms of administrative subdivisions, the latter two translations may be inaccurate or confusing.
The
oblast in
Eastern Europe and
Russian Federation geographic context is a subnational entity of
Bulgaria, the
Russian Federation,
Ukraine, and the now-defunct
Soviet Union. Official terms in other
successor states of the Soviet Union differ, but some still use a
cognate of the Russian term, e.g.
voblast (
voblasts,
voblasts' ) is used for
provinces of Belarus, and
oblys (plural: oblystar) for
provinces of Kazakhstan.
Since 1997,
Bulgaria has been divided into 28
oblasti, usually translated as
regions. Before, the country was divided into 9 bigger units, also called
oblast. See
Regions of Bulgaria.
In the mentioned post-Soviet republics, oblasts are one step below the national level and further subdivided into
districts called
raions (
Russian:
райо́ны;
Ukrainian:
райони). A big
city may also be a constituent part of an oblast (
Russian official:
город областного подчинения;
Ukrainian official:
місто обласного підпорядкування) - being at the same level as
raion.
In the now-extinct
Soviet Union, oblasts were two steps below the national level (the higher step being the
Soviet Republics). Some oblasts of the
Russian SFSR have had a complicated structure including not only raions and cities, but also
autonomous entities.
The oblasts in other post-Soviet countries are officially called:
Voblast in
Belarus (see:
Provinces of Belarus)
**in
Lacinka vobłaść
Oblys in
Kazakhstan (see:
Provinces of Kazakhstan)
Oblast in
Kyrgyzstan (see:
Provinces of Kyrgyzstan)
Viloyat in
Tajikistan (see:
Provinces of Tajikistan)
Welayat in
Turkmenistan (see:
Provinces of Turkmenistan)
Viloyat in
Uzbekistan (see:
Provinces of Uzbekistan)
Viloyat and
welayat are derived from the
Arabic language term
wilayah.
Names of particular oblasts
One should note that a name of an oblast does not usually correspond with the name of the respective historical
region. Oblasts are purely administrative units without any significant history: all of them were formed in the middle of the
20th century. Typically, the Soviet/post-Soviet oblasts are named after their
capital cities, officially called "oblast centers". The name of each oblast' is usually a relative
adjective, formed by adding a feminine
suffix to the name of respective center city. E.g.
Poltava is the center of the
Poltavs'ka oblast'.
Exceptions to this rule include:
*
Leningradskaya oblast and
Sverdlovskaya oblast of Russia have kept their Soviet-era names while the respective
capitals readopted their historical names:
Saint-Petersburg and
Yekaterinburg.
*
Volyns'ka and
Zakarpats'ka oblasts of
Ukraine retain the names of the respective historical regions (see
Volyn and
Transcarpathia), while their capital cities are
Luts'k and
Uzhhorod, respectively.
Political aspects of oblast subdivision
Generally, oblast is the typical
subnational entity of a highly-centralized
unitary state.
Experts believe that
Soviet government was applying not only the objective (socio-economic and geographic), but also particular political criteria in forming the oblasts. The administrative borders of several oblasts have sometimes been changed in order to reshuffle the local
Communist Party organization, secure "the right" local administration for an industrial company, limit an ethnic activism etc. Such decisions were a Soviet version of the
gerrymandering method of affecting a vote.
Recent trends in oblast policy
President
Putin of
Russia has dramatically reformed the actual status of the country's oblasts. Formally remaining the second level of subdivision, they
de facto became included into the large
federal districts (Russian: федеральные округа).
In attempts to meet new regional socio-economic and political issues, numerous projects are suggested to reform the oblast system in both
Russia and
Ukraine (mostly aimed to merge particular oblasts or change their borders).
*
Autonomous oblast*
Regions of Bulgaria*
Subdivisions of Russia**
Federal subjects of Russia**
Oblasts of Russia**
Guberniya, the subdivision level matching to oblasts in
Imperial Russia and early
Soviet Union*
Subdivisions of Ukraine
