The Enlightened Bureaucrats And The Russian Great Reforms

The Russian Great Reforms is one of the most significant political events in Russian history. Many historians both in foreign and in domestic have discussed it. In the past, many scholars in China mainly discussed the reason, the contents, the result and the effect of the Great Reforms. They gave few attention to who promoted the Great Reforms. In this paper, the author analyze this issue in order that a better understanding why the Great Reforms can be quickly finished.According to this paper, the Great Reforms were promoted by the enlightened bureaucrats. At the beginning of 19th century, Russian bureaucracy was well-ordered. With the educational level improving, there came a group of well-educated bureaucrats in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of State Domains. These young bureaucrats were rather poor birth, but much higher education and better understanding the actual situation of Russia. It was these bureaucrats that formed the enlightened bureaucrats. They emerged in the 1830's and 1840's, then, they developed from studying the actual situation of Russia, to developing their own forces, to doing some reform experiments, and finally working out the Great Reforms. Unfortunately, the fate of enlightened bureaucrats was the same sad as Alexander II.The total paper consists of four parts: the first part is analysis of bureaucracy; the second is the historical backgrounds of the emergence of enlightened bureaucrats; the third is the emergence of enlightened bureaucrats and their early activities; the fourth is the relationship between the enlightened bureaucrats and the Great Reforms. The last was conclusions.