THE SPREAD OF IDEAS OF FEDERALISM (POLYCENTRISM) IN RUSSIA IN THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES
This article analyses the development of the federal doctrine in the works by Russian scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was at that time that the idea of building a federal state (as on the North American continent) became widespread. The article describes key directions in which the ideas of state-building had developed. It presents the views of scholars supportive of centralism and autocracy (N.M. Karamzin, K.P. Pobedonostsev, S.F. Sharapov, K.N. Paskhalov) as well as more radical authors, such as A.N. Radishchev, N.M. Muravyov, M.A. Bakunin and P.A. Kropotkin. The author believes that the growing popularity of conservative ideas in the 19th and early 20th centuries can be partly explained by the traditional Orthodox worldview, characteristic of Russian scholars and politicians of that time. Orthodox Christianity as a worldview rejects greed and worship of wealth. However, it is these qualities that form the basis of capitalist relations. Therefore, Russian conservatives developed the concept of autocratic monarchy, which is based on rigid centralization, executive chain of command. The liberal-minded Russian society of that period saw the source of the country’s progress in limiting the monarch’s power and spreading bourgeois legal values, while absolutism and rigid central authorities were seen as hampering the development and thus had to be eliminated. The author of this article explains the spread of polycentric ideas in the Russian Empire by the development of the liberal thought and revolutionary movement, an attempt which was not welcomed by part of the Russian public then and is not appreciated today. In addition, the article critically estimates the prospects for spreading the ideas of federalism in Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries.