From Berlin to Paris: New Mechanisms of Making Foreign-Policy Decisions in Russia in the Late 1870s-Late 1880s

Drawing attention to some decision-making mechanisms in the foreign policy of the Russian Empire in the 1870s-1880s, the author shows that the era of the "Great Reforms," the main feature of which was the sharply increased participation of society in governing the empire, was also reflected in such important events as the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and Russian-French rapprochement, culminating in the formation of a military alliance. In the prehistory of the conflict between St. Petersburg and Constantinople, the most important role was played by the private initiative of N.P. Ignat'ev and R.A. Fadeev, supported by the then Slavic committees. Only a study of their activity makes it possible to understand the true goals and explain many of the decisions of Alexander II, which were made outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sometimes even contrary to the position of Minister A.M. Gorchakov. The process of "removing" diplomats from key decisions continued in the 1880s, when behind the most important step-the reorientation of Russia in search of support from Berlin to Paris-stood not diplomats but a journalist, the unofficial leader of the conservative trend in public thought and the author of the concept of national politics M.N. Katkov and his entourage. In general, "outsourced" decisions implied not only an expansion of the circle of those who got the opportunity to influence the most important foreign-policy actions but also a danger to Russia's course in the international arena since people who did not have sufficient knowledge and experience and were prone to making risky decisions were involved in its implementation. All this reflected the increasing dissonance between the preservation of unlimited autocracy and the growing public initiative, which, as a rule, was not fixed in the foreign policy of St. Petersburg.