graduate student
Tyumen, Tyumen, Russian Federation
Russian nationhood studies are on the lookout for new historical trajectory and innovative forms of state and legal organization. Despite the current focus on the national past, the autocratic system receives little attention from contemporary scholars. However, the most recent in-depth analyses of autocracy are more than a century old, and the phenomenon itself is usually viewed as part of a broader subject. The four centuries of Russian autocracy is reason enough for comprehensive research and a clear theory that would incorporate the insights of the contemporary legal science. Autocracy is a multifaceted and interdisciplinary phenomenon with both legal and institutional foundations, as well as its own ideological framework. It is interwoven with the structure of state elites. The author proposes to view autocracy as a socio-cultural phenomenon, defining it as a complex set of state and legal practices deeply rooted in public consciousness and mindset. These practices have their own reproduction mechanisms and shape the structure and characteristics of state power, elite structures, and legal systems. Autocracy also relies on a specific system of ideas and perceptions that support its existence. This study contributes to the national theory of Russian autocracy within the realm of historical and legal science.
autocracy, autocracy as a phenomenon, state-legal phenomena, Russian nationhood, identity of Russian nationhood, history of Russian state and law
1. Mikheeva S. N., Skipskiy G. A. The main features of Russian statehood: Genesis and current state. Bulletin of the Ural Law Institute of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia, 2023, (4): 122–126. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/ofxeqi
2. Zakharov N. A. The system of Russian state power. Novocherkassk: Elektro-tip. F. Tunikova, 1912, 312. (In Russ.)
3. Karamzin N. M. The history of the Russian State. St. Petersburg: Tip. N. Grecha, 1819, vol. 5, 698. (In Russ.)
4. Solovyov S. M. The history of Russia since ancient times. St. Petersburg: Obshchestvennaya polza, 1896, book 1, vols. 1–5, 1726. (In Russ.)
5. Klyuchevsky V. O. Essays in nine volumes. Vol. 2. Course of Russian history. Moscow: Mysl, 1987, pt. 2, 447. (In Russ.)
6. Speransky M. M. A guide to the knowledge of laws. Essays by Count Speransky. St. Petersburg: Tip. 2-go Otd. Sobstvennoi E. I. V. Kantseliarii, 1845, 171. (In Russ.)
7. Chicherin B. N. Course of state science in three volumes. Pt. 1. General state law. Moscow: Tipo-lit. Vys. utv. t-va I. N. Kushnerev i Ko, 1894, 482. (In Russ.)
8. Tikhomirov L. A. Monarchic statehood. Moscow: SUE "Oblizdat"; Alir LLP, 1998, 672. (In Russ.)
9. Gradovsky A. D. Collected works in nine volumes. Vol. 7. The Beginnings of Russian State Law. Pt. 1. On the State structure. St. Petersburg: Tip. M. M. Stasiulevicha, 1907, 433. (In Russ.)
10. Korkunov N. M. Russian State Law. Vol. 1. Introduction and general part. St. Petersburg: Tip. M. M. Stasiulevicha, 1909, 623. (In Russ.)
11. Safronova E. V., Shairyan G. P. Legal phenomenon of Russian authority. Scientific Notes of V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University. Juridical science, 2021, 7(3-2): 240–252. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.29039/2413-1733-2021-7-3(2)-240-252
12. Chestnov I. L. Postclassical socio-cultural anthropology of law as a trend in modern jurisprudence. Voprosy pravovedenija, 2014, (4): 55–69. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/thpwjr
13. Feldbrugge F. A history of Russian law from ancient times to the council code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2017, 1097.
14. Feldbrugge F. A history of Russian law from the council code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649 to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Leiden-Boston: Brill; Nijhoff, 2023, 444.
15. Yushkov S. V. History of the state and law of the USSR. Moscow: Gos. izd-vo iurid. lit., 1950, pt. 1, 672. (In Russ.)
16. Sergeevich V. I. Lectures and research on the ancient history of Russian law. St. Petersburg: Tip. M. M. Stasiulevicha, 1910, 667. (In Russ.)
17. Vladimirsky-Budanov M. F. The review of Russian law history. Moscow: Territotiia budushhego, 2005, 800. (In Russ.)
18. Alshits D. N. The beginning of the autocracy in Russia: State of Ivan the Terrible. Leningrad: Nauka, 1988, 241. (In Russ.)
19. Kobrin V. B. Ivan the Terrible. Moscow: Moskovskii rabochii, 1989, 175. (In Russ.)
20. Samarina O. I. The idea of autocratic power in the works of Russian historians. Universitetskaja nauka, 2023, (1): 256–262. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/xkhgij
21. Cherniavsky M. "Holy Russia": A study in the history of an idea. The American Historical Review, 1958, 63(3): 617–637. https://doi.org/10.2307/1848883
22. Cherniavsky M. The structure of Russian history. Interpretive essays. NY: Random House, 1970, 436.
23. Ahiezer A. S., Kliyankin I. M., Yakivenko I. A. The history of Russia: The end or the new beginning? 3rd ed. Moscow: Novoe izd-vo, 2013, 492. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/sxehfh
24. Lachmann R. States and power, tr. Dondukovsky M. Moscow: Delo, 2021, 352. (In Russ.)
25. Uporov I. V. Autocracy in Russia: Theoretical justification in the work of P. E. Kazan (1913). International journal of humanities and natural sciences, 2024, (2-1): 34–39. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24412/2500-1000-2024-2-1-34-39
26. Bohanov A. N. The Autocracy. Moscow: Prospekt, 2024, 352. (In Russ.)
27. Larionov A. S. The genesis of autocracy as a state-legal phenomenon in Russia: A historiographical aspect. Bulletin of the South Ural State University. Series: Law, 2025, 25(1): 96–104. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.14529/law250115



