Russia's Territorial Size as a Concept for International Politics: Nikita Panin's Northern System (1760-1770)

The actual paper deals with the issue of conceptual grounds of Russian political thought in its international aspect. The author argues that Russian politicians of the 18th century were paying special attention to the fact of Russia's unique territorial size, which was used as a conceptual basis for building a distinctive model of international policy for the Empire. The = 'Northern System', installed by Nikita Panin, a prominent statesman at the court of Catherine the Great Russian who masterminded Russian foreign policy from 1764 to 1779. The author demonstrates that Panin understood Russian Empire as a territorial giant which doesn't need expansion of its borders anymore and therefore could propose a diplomatic system based on stability, peace and commerce. That system was putting emphasis upon the concision of Russian diplomatic domination and the = natural interests' of the states of Northern and Eastern Europe. The similar understanding of Russia's uniqueness in terms of territorial size would became a basis for proposing similar models for international regulations, in which Russia's vast size was to be seen as a precondition for a role of a peacemaker rather than expansionist.