This is the first comprehensive biography in any language of Russia's leading statesman in the period following the Revolution of 1905. Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs from 1906 to 1911, when he was assassinated, in post-1905 Russia P. A. Stolypin was virtually the only man who seemed to have a clear notion of how to reform the socioeconomic and political system of the empire.
In A Reluctant Parliament, noted historian Alexandra S. Korros deftly explores the organization and operation of the Russian Empire's State Council in the wake of the 1905 revolution. Korros dismisses the traditional interpretation that the State Council was a monolithic opponent to reform and focuses on the complex political maneuvering between those of its members anxious to make the legislative chambers work, and those determined to turn Russia away from the path of constitutional monarchy. Based on extensive research on primary sources-many of which have not been previously examined--A Reluctant Parliament is an important new addition to the field of Russian History.
In 1903 Tsar Nicholas II issued a decree allowing the confiscation of Armenian Church property, marking the low point in relations between imperial Russia and its Armenian subjects. Yet just over a decade later, Russian Armenians were fully supportive of the Russian war effort. Drawing on previously untouched archival material and a range of secondary sources published in English, French, Russian and Turkish, this is the first English-language study of this drastic change in relations in the Caucasus. Onur Onol explains how and why the shift took place by looking in detail at the imperial Russian authorities and their relationship with the three pillars of the Russian Armenian community: the Armenian Church, the Armenian bourgeoisie and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun). Onol places the evolution within a context of wider political questions, such as the Russian revolutionary movement, Russia's nationalities question, Tsarist fears of pan-Islamism, the path to World War I and the influence of key characters in Russian policy making, from Pyotr Stolypin to Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov.This book fills a conspicuous void in the extant historiography, and will be of interest to scholars working on Russian, Armenian and Ottoman history.
There is a widespread notion that Russia is forever fated to be an authoritarian country where liberalism and democracy can never make real progress. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century there was an extremely influential “liberationist” movement which culminated in the formation of a modern, Western-style liberal party, the Constitutional Democrats or “Kadets”. The book provides a comprehensive history of the rise of the Kadets, focusing, in particular, on the revolutionary years 1905-06. It outlines how they dominated the first Duma elected by the people and analyses their policies, social composition and political tactics. The book challenges the view (shared by many historians) that the Kadets were inherently extreme, doctrinaire or unwilling to compromise, and argues that their eventual failure was primarily due to the intransigence of the old régime. The Russian Liberals and the Revolution of 1905 illustrates, in detail, that the Kadets offered a moderate alternative to reaction on the one hand and revolution on the other.
Russian Liberalism charts the development of liberal ideas and political organizations in Russia as well as the implementation of liberal reforms by the Russian and Soviet governments at various points in time. Paul Robinson's comprehensive survey covers the entire period from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Robinson demonstrates that liberalism has always lacked strong roots in the Russian population, being largely espoused by a narrow group of intellectuals whose culture it has reflected, and has tended toward a form of historical determinism that sees Russia as destined to become like the West. Many see the current political struggle between Russia and the West as being in part a conflict between the liberal West and an illiberal Russia. By explaining the historical causes of liberalism's failure in that country, Russian Liberalism offers an understanding of a significant aspect of contemporary international affairs. After Putin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, understanding Russian political thought is a matter of considerable importance.
An examination of property rights reforms in Russia before the revolution reveals the advantages and pitfalls of liberal democracy in action—from a government that could be described as neither liberal nor democratic. The author analyzes whether truly liberal reform can be effectively established from above versus from the bottom up—or whether it is simply a product of exceptional historical circumstances.
Russian Conservatism examines the history of Russian conservative thought from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. Robinson charts the contributions made by philosophers, politicians, and others during the Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods. Looking at cultural, political, and social-economic conservatism in Russia, Russian Conservatism demonstrates that such ideas are helpful in interpreting Russia's present as well as its past and will be influential in shaping Russia's future, for better or for worse, in the years to come.
