The Institution of Khan's Power of Kazakh Tribes in the Assessments of Russian Scientists and Officials (18th — Early 19th Centuries)

On the basis of published scientific works and office-work documents, the issues of coverage of the khan power in Kazakh society by Russian scientists and officials of the 18th — early 19th centuries are considered. The relevance of the work is due to the poor study of assessments of this institution by contemporaries in the process of its gradual transformation by the imperial authorities. The need to collect information about the political institutions of Kazakh society was due to the need to integrate the Kazakh zhuzs into the general imperial space. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the assessment by Russian by the Russian authorities and the scientific community of the khan's power included three main components. The first is the election of the khans, which was viewed by observers as an integral element of the institution of the khan's power and legitimized the khan's power in society. The second is the direct dependence of the amount of power of the khan on his personal authority among his subjects, without which the ruler did not enjoy support in society. The third is the perception of the khan's power as a weak and limited to the clan nobility. In the 18th and early 19th centuries the assessments of the institution under consideration by Russian researchers did not always correspond to reality; the collected information was utilitarian and discrete.