ABSTRACT
Three main positions regarding Europe can be discerned in this period. First, there was the state’s position, which was legitimist in the tradition of the ancien regime. This position, which I will call ‘conservative nationalist’, saw the ongoing European developments away from enlightened despotism as a betrayal of ideals once commonly held by all the monarchs of Europe, and by their dependents. For Russia, the answer to this betrayal should be to carry on as before. Second, there emerged a Romantic nationalist position, which was formed under the influence of German Romanticism and shared most of its ideals and pursuits. However, since most of its proponents saw Europe in an Orthodox Christian framework, this position was soon to take on an autochthonous flavour. The Romantic nationalists were antimodern, and were against what they saw as the etatisation and bureaucratisation of the tsar’s rule. Finally, there was a constitutionalist position, which held that political and economic models should be adopted from Europe and adapted to Russian conditions.
