Contemporary public administration systems in Europe, including those in countries with a unitary form of government, have undergone significant changes over the past forty years. The general trend towards decentralization affects all spheres of society, from the environment and the quality of governance to economic growth and the well-being of citizens. In the countries of the European Union, decentralization takes various forms, in some cases contributing to the efficiency of the public sector, democratization and political stability, but at the same time creating serious problems in the way of reform and ensuring equal access of citizens to social benefits.
Political decentralization in unitary states is the result of complex political processes within these countries. Unitary states today are placed in such conditions when the central authorities are forced to conduct a political dialogue with regional authorities and make all sorts of compromises in order not only to prevent conflicts, but also to avoid the possible collapse of the country. The result of this dialogue is the partial transfer of some powers to the regions, which can transfer the process of decentralization of unitary states into the category of federalization and lead to a change in the form of statehood and the general political landscape when it comes to Europe as a whole.

The author examines the historical evolution of the process of autonomization in Russia and the political mechanisms that contribute to the emergence of autonomies. It is noted that the process of forming autonomies in Russia has been developing for many centuries, it continued after the revolution of 1917, already in the system of cardinal transformation of the internal state structure, and with some changes it was preserved by the beginning of the 21th century. The study of the historical prerequisites for the emergence of autonomies is particularly in demand in the context of the need to unite the country, actively improve the forms of statehood and implement effective national policy.
The emergence of autonomies in Russia throughout its history is associated with the constant increment of state lands, with the intensive or extensive expansion of the state, with the diversity of national characteristics of their population. However, despite the fact that the autonomies in Russia in most cases were voluntarily attached to the Center and had some degree of independence, these territories did not violate the principle of unity of the vast empire due to their subordinate position. At the same time, granting partial autonomy to certain regions of the Russian Empire did not contradict the principle of the integrity and indivisibility of the country as a single political entity and was culturally, economically and politically expedient.