This is the first comprehensive examination of the Russian ruling elite and its political institutions during an important period of state building, from the emergence of Russia on the stage of world politics around 1700 to the consolidation of its position after the victory over Napoleon. Instead of focusing on the great rulers of the period--Peter, Catherine, and Alexander--the work examines the nobility which alone could make their power effective. LeDonne not only gives a full chronological account of the development of bureaucratic, military, economic, and political institutions in Russia during this period, but also skillfully analyzes the ways in which local agencies and the ruling class exercised control and shared power with the absolute monarchs.

This is the first comprehensive examination of the Russian ruling elite and its political institutions during an important period of state building, from the emergence of Russia on the stage of world politics around 1700 to the consolidation of its position after the victory over Napoleon. Instead of focusing on the great rulers of the period--Peter, Catherine, and Alexander--the work examines the nobility which alone could make their power effective. LeDonne not only gives a full chronological account of the development of bureaucratic, military, economic, and political institutions in Russia during this period, but also skillfully analyzes the ways in which local agencies and the ruling class exercised control and shared power with the absolute monarchs.

This book explores thoroughly the reforms of Russian administration from 1775 to 1785, this work also reaches beyond Catherine's reign to challenge established opinions on the nature of eighteenth-century Russian government and the autocracy of the tsars. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Forty years after its original publication, Lineages of the Absolutist State remains an exemplary achievement in comparative history. Picking up from where its companion volume, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, left off, Lineages traces the development of Absolutist states in the early modern period from their roots in European feudalism, and assesses their various trajectories. Why didn't Italy develop into an Absolutist state in the same, indigenous way as the other dominant Western countries, namely Spain, France and England? On the other hand, how did Eastern European countries develop into Absolutist states similar to those of the West, when their social conditions diverged so drastically? Reflecting on examples in Islamic and East Asian history, as well as the Ottoman Empire, Anderson concludes by elucidating the particular role of European development within universal history.

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Written during a moment in English history when the political and social structures were in flux and open to interpretation, Leviathan played an essential role in the development of the modern world.

Michael Herb proposes a new paradigm for understanding politics in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. He critiques the theory of the rentier state and argues that we must put political institutions—and specifically monarchism—at the center of any explanation of Gulf politics. All in the Family provides a compelling and fresh analysis of the importance of monarchism in the region, and points out the crucial role of the ruling families in creating monarchal regimes. It addresses the issue of democratization in the Middle Eastern monarchies, arguing that the prospects for the gradual emergence of constitutional monarchy are better than is often thought.