SUMMARY:

This essay is a contribution to the book forum “Soviet Departmentalism” discussing the edited volume put together by the Tyumen historian Igor Stas’ that introduces departmentalism, or vedomstvennost’, as a vital framework for understanding Soviet history. The volume argues that vedomstvennost’ fundamentally organized the daily lives, urban spaces, and social hierarchies of citizens. Michael Brinley explores how this concept functioned as both a lived practice and a rhetorical tool used to critique bureaucratic silos within the USSR. Brinley focuses particularly on the intersection of this administrative culture and urban development, noting how state ministries acted like corporations to create spatial inequalities and industrial enclaves. He praises the book for demonstrating how Soviet actors’ own categories can reveal the “non-trivial” complexities of socialist governance and city-building.