ABSTRACT
Alexander II’s pledge to emancipate the serfs had made it inevitable that his subsequent call for police reform would focus on Russia’s rural areas, but in early 1858 the nature and extent of the changes reform would entail were unclear. Over the next several years the central authorities would consider—and, for a time, support—three different approaches. While shaped in part by bureaucratic rivalries and budgetary stringencies, these would reflect differing perceptions of Russia’ security needs, the wishes of the Tsar, and the success of foreign police systems. They also would involve vastly different levels of complexity, in one case leaving institutions other than the police untouched and in another requiring reform of the courts and the creation of new local governments. As a result, the choice between the differing approaches would determine whether police reform would be an isolated project or a path to other of Russia’s Great Reforms.
