Editing Raion (section)

===Raions in the Soviet Union===
In the [[Soviet Union]], raions were administrative divisions created in the 1920s to reduce the number of territorial divisions inherited from the [[Russian Empire]] and to simplify their bureaucracies.<ref name="Gale">James R. Millar.  ''Encyclopedia of Russian History''.  Macmillan Reference USA.  New York, 2004.  {{ISBN|0-02-865693-8}}</ref>  The process of conversion to the system of raions was called '''''raionirovanie''''' ("regionalization").  It was started in 1923 in the [[Urals]], [[North Caucasus]], and [[Siberia]] as a part of the Soviet administrative reform and continued through 1929, by which time the majority of the country's territory was divided into raions instead of the old [[volost]]s and [[uyezd]]s.<ref name="Gale" />

The concept of ''raionirovanie'' was met with resistance in some republics, especially in [[Ukraine]], where local leaders objected to the concept of raions as being too centralized in nature and ignoring the local customs.  This point of view was backed by the Soviet Russian [[People's Commissariat of Nationalities]].<ref name="Gale" />  Nevertheless, eventually all of the territory of the Soviet Union was regionalized.

Soviet raions had self-governance in the form of an elected [[soviet (council)|district council]] (''raysovet'') and were headed by the local head of administration, who was either elected or appointed.