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

Author: Omel'chenko O.A.¹

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

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