ABSTRACT
In Russia, modern political thought made its appearance in the last third of the eighteenth century; the major stimulant for the debate was the "revolution" wrought by Peter the Great. Political thinking did not develop much earlier, except for an episodic manifestation in 1730, because it took educated Russian society almost half a century to assimilate the impact of Peter's reign. This chapter discusses the ideas of Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Shcherbatov, who has the merits of having been a prolific writer, keenly interested in political problems, widely educated, and an active participant in the administrative, political, and scholarly life of his time. Shcherbatov did object to the mechanical and bureaucratic application of the rules of ennoblement provided for in the Table of Ranks, because they made it possible to attain nobility through patronage and protection of subaltern officials on whom depended promotion to those ranks which automatically entailed nobility.
