The Emergence of Russian Liberalism

Berest, Julia

doi:10.1057/9780230118928

Cited by 17 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…(Orlov, 1902: 551) Miliukov (1962Miliukov ( [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.…”

Section: The Abolition Of Corporal Punishment and Prince Orlov's Libe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Filipe

2022

New Perspectives

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Prince Nikolay Alexeyevich Orlov (1827–1885) was an aristocrat, a war hero and a prominent diplomat of the Russian Empire who enjoyed a prestigious position from a very young age. In his correspondence with Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich in the early 1860s, Prince Orlov expounded his views on Russian politics, putting forward his liberal outlook of what the empire ought to be. His most crucial proposals were (i) revising Russian foreign policy and redefining imperial borders (which included solving the ‘Polish Question’); (ii) adopting federalism with local representative institutions based on a notion of ‘legitimate power’; (iii) introducing bottom-up reforms; (iv) abolishing ‘backwards practices’ (in particular, corporal punishment) and (v) guaranteeing civil rights and equality before the law. Based on letters and other writings that remain vastly under-researched in Russia and practically unknown to English-speaking audiences, I analyse Prince Orlov’s correspondence as illustrative of a broader ideological turn to liberal imperialism and contextualise it from Russian and European perspectives. By positing that Russian liberalism was strongly impacted by the successes and shortcomings of the liberal imperialism of the 1860s, I invite the reader to rethink some ideological and chronological boundaries that are routinely taken for granted in discussions regarding liberalism, imperialism and their interconnectedness.

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Section: The Abolition Of Corporal Punishment and Prince Orlov's Libe...mentioning

confidence: 99%