The System of State and Law in Eighteenth-Century Russia and the Political Culture of Europe: Some Historical Interactions

Author: Omel'chenko O.A.

Source: The Slavonic and East European Review, Volume 80, Number 2, 1 April 2002 , pp. 217-233(17)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

Western influence on eighteenth-century Russia and her reform process has been much misunderstood. Unlike the nineteenth-century élites, eighteenth-century Russians did not think in terms of adopting some ideal Western model in toto. Contemporary Russian borrowings (or mimetic assimilation) were limited, specific and pragmatic; nor was such borrowing new. Changes can be traced in six areas. Russian élites were selective both in what they chose and where they obtained it: in the legal and political sphere, principally from Sweden, Holland and Britain. These north-western European states offered a new legitimation of power and ultimately a non-revolutionary path towards a ‘constitutional’ political regime, a trend fostered by eighteenth-century Russian rulers themselves. This trend was aborted by later tsars, especially Paul I and Nicholas I, and consequently reappeared in opposition to the establishment.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: The Moscow State Industrial University

Publication date: 2002-04-01

More about this publication?

The Review is the oldest British journal in the field, having been in existence since 1922. Edited and managed by the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, it covers not only the modern and medieval languages and literatures of the Slavonic and East European area, but also history, culture, and political studies.