Khoziain zemli russkoi? Samoderzhavie i biurokratiia v epokhu moderna - Solov'ev K.

In 1897, during the first all-Russian census, Nicholas II wrote the famous words in the questionnaire graph: "The master of the Russian land." But despite the formal omnipotence of the Russian autocrat, he was very limited in the freedom of activity on the part of the bureaucracy. The Russian bureaucracy - in the absence of its legal institutions- has become truly omnipotent. The book of the famous historian Kirill Solovyov gives a convincing collective portrait of the "ministerial oligarchy" of the late 19th century and a detailed description of some bright representatives of this estate (M.T.Loris-Melikov, K.P. Pobedonostsev, V.K.Pleve, S.Y. Witte etc.). The author pays special attention to the mechanisms of state decision-making, conflicts of bureaucracy with society, intra-ministerial intrigues. Weakness of the administrative vertical under the externally rigid bureaucratic system, the officials' poor knowledge of the realities of Russian life, legislative anarchy all these factors eventually led to the fall of the monarchy. Kirill Solovyov is a doctor of historical sciences, professor of history and theory of historical science of the Russian State University. He is the author of three hundred scientific publications, including five monographs on the political history of Russia, the history of parliamentarianism, management techniques and power technology.