Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2: Гуманитарные науки (Dec 2015)
“The Cornerstone of the State”: Monarchical Form of Government and Nobility’s Special Status in the Political Thought of 18th Century Russia
Abstract
The article deals with the issue of the exclusive social status, which was granted to the Russian nobility in the 18th century, in the context of transformations of Russian elite’s perception of the state and society. The adaptation of the European glossary of forms of rule in 18th century Russia contributed to the formation of a secular vision, in which the power of the state was determined by a set of social factors. Thus, the contribution of the nobility as a social group to the power of monarchy, the ‘common good’, became the key argument in favor of the nobility’s exclusive status since the mid-18th century. However, the analysis of the debates in the Legislative Commission of 1767–1768 allows the author to conclude that such a transformation was experienced mostly by the narrow group of administrative and court elite. Therefore, the exclusive status of the nobility was not a result of pressure from the consolidate noble social group, but a result of a transformation in the Russian elite’s vision of the role and place of the nobility in the Russian Empire.
