Vasily V. Shishkov

Vasily V. Shishkov

Dec., 2025

empire, Russian Empire, imperial politics, imperial power, imperial elite, expansionism, colonialism.

The article discusses the essence of imperial politics. Empire is seen as a special type of politics. The purpose of the article is to identify the specific characteristics that distinguish imperial politics. The article also analyzes the Russian imperial statehood and its inherent features. The empire is considered as a special type of statehood, expressed in the relations of the center and the periphery. The study is related to the consideration of the nature of these relationships. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the theory of political power, represented by an attributive-substantive approach, structural-functional and systemic concepts of power. The issue of the sources of imperial power is considered separately. The relationship between forceful and non forceful ways of ruling in imperial political systems. The paper analyzes the following special features of imperial politics: the role and importance of the imperial political elite, ensuring the dominance of the center; the coercive nature of imperial rule and the associated advantages and costs of imperial statehood; resource consumption and expansionism of imperial policy. The Russian Empire was distinguished by the principle of recruiting the imperial elite, a combination of various ways of expansion and assertion of dominance. The article substantiates the conclusion according to which the policy of the empire is distinguished by a combination of concentration of power, its resources and pluralism of its institutional manifestations.

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