Kunitsyn on Natural Law

Redefining the Russian Empire: The turn to liberal imperialism through the letters of Prince Nikolay A. Orlov at the height of the Great Reforms

“…17.Contrary to what was suggested by Miliukov (1962 [1905]: 169) – that ‘Russian liberalism was not bourgeois, but intellectual’ – and later echoed by Raeff (1994: 36), the liberalism of the 1860s reformers went beyond a purely intellectual movement to integrate a concrete political programme that was consubstantiated with the Great Reforms and their surrounding debates. More recently, Berest (2011) added a nuance to the question of a programmatic liberalism versus a philosophical one. This author argued that the philosophical outlook of early Russian liberalism does not diminish its significance, as many educated Russians embraced liberalism, and their critical attitude would have practical consequences, ultimately weakening the autocracy’s power.…”