scholarly journals The Prototypes of MGIMO: from the History of Specialized Diplomatic Education in Russia

Author(s):  
A. I. Kuznetsov

The article considers the history of establishing and developing specialized education of diplomats in the pre-revolutionary Russia that was perfected along with the professionalization and growth of the diplomatic service, while the country's international contacts expanded and grew more complicated. The author points out that specialized offices for foreign affairs and permanent diplomatic missions brought about the necessity of training personnel, which meant, in particular, developing specific skills and abilities. Perfecting the training of diplomats implied the growing role of higher education for the personnel in the diplomatic service and making entrance examinations to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs more and more difficult, which meant that the applicants had to possess specific knowledge in history, economics, law, regional studies, etc. The article analyzes the role of universities, lyceums and the Oriental Institute at the Asian Department of the 70 Ministry of Foreign Affairs in professional training of diplomats. The author gives a detailed analysis of the evolution of approaches of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire towards raising the standards of training diplomats, the role of the educational qualification and entrance examinations to the diplomatic service. It finally led the Ministry to the idea of creating a specialized education centre.

2018 ◽  
pp. 443-454
Author(s):  
Mikhail S. Shapovalov ◽  

The article studies historical sources (diplomatic notes, correspondence, telegrams of the employees of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and presents a content analysis and a systematization. Most documents are being introduced into scientific use for the first time. The information basis is formed by previously unpublished materials of the Political Archive from the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire. The article attempts to characterize the documentary sources found in the archival file ‘The Journey of Emperor Wilhelm to Palestine’ that are dedicated to the Fashoda incident. The validity of the hypotheses of relevance of microhistorical plots in objective evaluation of crucial historical events is verified by traditional methods of historical research: comparative historical analysis, chronological approach, retrospective and perspective methods. The method of historical reconstruction helps to narrate the episode of Emperor Nicholas II’s telegram to Kaiser Wilhelm II in the circumstances of the developing Fashoda crisis. The author takes into account the assessments found in Russian sources. A variety of official and unofficial documents allows to clarify and to correct existing ideas about the resolution of the Fashoda question in 1898. The article is the first to examine the history of the Fashoda crisis in the diplomatic correspondence between Nicholas II and Wilhelm II. The correspondence focuses on the role of Russian consul-general in Beirut K. N. Lishin. The author concludes that Lishin's excessive diligence and fear to harm his own career bolstered the diplomatic incident concerning the telegram and compounded the diplomatic situation around Fashoda. The archival file ‘The Journey of Emperor Wilhelm to Palestine’ yet again demonstrates a strong connection between the event and the policies of the great powers in the Middle East and Europe. To understand the history of international relations it is important to research not just the relevant topics and cases, but to study the whole complex of diplomatic sources of the period.


2019 ◽  
pp. 256-281
Author(s):  
E.M. Kopot`

The article brings up an obscure episode in the rivalry of the Orthodox and Melkite communities in Syria in the late 19th century. In order to strengthen their superiority over the Orthodox, the Uniates attempted to seize the church of St. George in Izraa, one of the oldest Christian temples in the region. To the Orthodox community it presented a threat coming from a wealthier enemy backed up by the See of Rome and the French embassy. The only ally the Antioch Patriarchate could lean on for support in the fight for its identity was the Russian Empire, a traditional protector of the Orthodox Arabs in the Middle East. The documents from the Foreign Affairs Archive of the Russian Empire, introduced to the scientific usage for the first time, present a unique opportunity to delve into the history of this conflict involving the higher officials of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Russian embassy in ConstantinopleВ статье рассматривается малоизвестный эпизод соперничества православной и Мелкитской общин в Сирии в конце XIX века. Чтобы укрепить свое превосходство над православными, униаты предприняли попытку захватить церковь Святого Георгия в Израа, один из старейших христианских храмов в регионе. Для православной общины он представлял угрозу, исходящую от более богатого врага, поддерживаемого Римским престолом и французским посольством. Единственным союзником, на которого Антиохийский патриархат мог опереться в борьбе за свою идентичность, была Российская Империя, традиционный защитник православных арабов на Ближнем Востоке. Документы из архива иностранных дел Российской Империи, введены в научный оборот впервые, уникальная возможность углубиться в историю этого конфликта с участием высших должностных лиц в Османской империи, а также российского посольства в Константинополе.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-93
Author(s):  
Amiran Urushadze

The article analyzes governmental debates on the functions, rights and privileges of the Armenian Catholicoi in the context of inter-institutional controversies. The author attempts to identify and analyze the most influential programmes for solving the “Echmiadzin issue” and their origins presenting at the same time certain aspects of political interaction between the Russian Empire and the Armenian Church as overlapping processes and related events. The history of relationships between Russian state and Armenian Church in XIX–XX centuries shows that different actors of the imperial politics had different ideas about the optimal model of cooperation with Echmiadzin. The divisions took place not only between the various departments (the Ministry of Internal Affairs versus the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), but also within them, where individual officials could hold “anti-departmental” views in each particular case. All this hindered administrative consolidation, slowed down the empire's response to important political challenges and dragged the imperial structures into protracted service-hierarchical confrontations. The “Etchmiadzin Question” and the governmental discussions around it show in part the administrative paralysis of the autocracy and the decompensation of the system of power in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. The article employs a rich documentary base of archival materials from the collections of the Russian State Historical Archive. These materials are introduced into the scholarly discourse for the first time ever.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 52-63
Author(s):  
В. А. Добровольська

The point of this study is to cover the issue of history of women’s secondary education in Katerynoslavprovince in the 2nd half of the XIX – early XX centuries. Patriarchal judgments and views on the women’srole have been characteristic of the society of the Russian Empire for centuries. It has been found out thatthe democratic reforms of the 60-70s of the XIX century marked the beginning of the changes towardswomanhood. The historical premises for the formation of the women’s education system are covered. Itis established that the creation of women’s educational institutions of all classes in terms of legislativeframework begins in the 1950’s. Women’s educational institutions were subordinate to different institutionsand had different organizational and educational backgrounds. Thus, the Ministry of Public Education hadthe most rights and opportunities in the sphere of education. In addition to state schools, there were privateand public schools. It is established that the new system of educational sector management is claimed asstate-public. The main types of general secondary schools in Katerynoslav province in the II half of theXIX – early XX centuries were gymnasiums, progymnasiums, parochial secondary school for girls. Thefeatures of the financial situation of the gymnasiums on the example of certain educational institutions arerevealed. Thus, a large number of women’s gymnasiums and progymnasiums and their popularity withthe population were directly related to the rapid economic development of the region and the vigorousactivity of local self-government bodies. The content of education of those secondary schools is defined.The popularity of gymnasiums with the population comes from their class-inclusive nature. The range ofwomen’s gymnasiums in the early XX century is distinguished on grounds of division into classes andreligion. Education for daughters of clergymen was of a limited nature compared to the gymnasiums. As aresult, women’s religious secondary education evolved less dynamically. It is established that the religiousaffairs authority opened professional secondary educational institutions – parochial secondary school forgirls – primarily for the daughters of clergymen. There was only one such school in Katerynoslav province– in the principal town of the province. The content of the education of parochial secondary school forgirls is described. The proportion of disciplines of the humanities and mathematical and natural sciences iscompared. The article states that the end of the XIX - early XX centuries was marked by the decline in thesystem of parochial secondary school for girls, and defines the content of the reforms of the religious affairsauthority. The sources of funding of Katerynoslav parochial secondary school for girls and gymnasiums arecompared. The role of parochial secondary school for girls in the problem of providing public school withteachers is figured out.


2021 ◽  
pp. 342-356
Author(s):  
Elena S. Sonina ◽  

Due to the literary-centric nature of Russian culture and the performance of the functions of civil society by the printed word, the role of the writer in the history of Russian literature and journalism of the Russian Empire was traditionally high. Therefore, satirical graphics constantly turned to the image of the Russian writer. The study compares the methods of depicting writers in the 19th and early 20th centuries and isolates the traditions of referring to the literary past and present. Caricature in connection with new trends in literature showed writers in the role of heroes of low and elite cultures, “tramps” (bossjaki) and modernists.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-299
Author(s):  
Kamil Kowalski ◽  
Rafał Matera ◽  
Mariusz E. Sokołowicz

Abstract In this article, we identify the institutional offers for emigrants and evaluate the role of immigrants during the industrial revolution in the nineteenth-century history of three cities (once labelled ‘Manchesters’) from different parts of the Russian Empire. The dynamic growth of these cities was based on the textile industry but also depended largely on newcomers and highly mobile and entrepreneurial citizens. We show the key institutional factors that accelerated the immigrants’ mobility to these Eastern European ‘Manchesters’ and made their role in urban development crucial. We claim the textile industry and institutional conditions for newcomers were prerequisites, but the entrepreneurship of a large number of immigrants proved crucial in these cities.


Author(s):  
Nikolai N. Petrykin

We contribute to the discussion of the results of a significant resettlement policy, the role of the gendarme railway police in its implementation and the role of the gendarme structure in the history of the Russian Empire. For the first time, we make an attempt to disclose the mechanism of the gendarme railway police in implementing the state’s resettlement policy in the area of migration flows on the materials of the Kursk Governorate, taking into account the existing rail-way network and the structure of the gendarme police departments. Based on the materials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and local archives, the issues of legal regulation of mass railway transportation by the gendarme railway police are considered. An analysis of the gen-darme’s paperwork based on the materials of the Kursk branch of the gendarme police department of the Moscow-Kursk railway is given, aspects of interaction with the railway administration, local authorities, and the general police are highlighted. We trace the change and expansion of the duties of the railway gendarmes in connection with changes in the resettlement policy during the period under review and highlight the main stages. Particular attention is paid to issues of public safety in the context of criminalization on the railways. We show the role of the gendarme railway police in ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of passengers, taking into account the situation in the Kursk Governorate. Particular attention is paid to the influence of resettlement processes on the internal organizational, personnel aspects of the activities of the railway police, the dependence of the employee’s spiritual and moral condition on personal choice. We draw conclusions on the significance, scale, diversity of the gendarme railway police activities during the implementation of the resettlement policy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Drobotushenko Evgeny V. ◽  

The history of the creation of the agent network of the Russian Empire has not found comprehensive coverage in scientific publications so far. The existing research referred to specific names or mention private facts. This predetermined the relevance of the work. The object of the study is the Russian agents in China in general and in Chinese Shanghai, in particular. The subject is the study of peculiarities of the first attempts in creating Russian agent network in the city. The aim of the work is to analyze the attempt to create a network of Russian illegal agents in Shanghai in 1906–1908. The lack of materials on the problem in scientific and popular scientific publications predetermined the use of previously unknown or little-known archival sources. This is the correspondence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Imperial envoy in Beijing and the Russian Consul in Shanghai stored in the funds of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SARF). The main conclusion of the study was the remark about the lack of scientific elaboration, at the moment, the history of official, legal and illegal agents of the Russian Empire in Shanghai, China. Private findings suggest that, judging by the available data, creation of a serious network of agents in the city during the Russian Empire failed. The reasons for this, presumably, were several: the lack of qualified agents with knowledge of Chinese or, at least, English, who could work effectively; the lack of funds for the maintenance of agents, a small number of Russian citizens, the remoteness of Shanghai from the Russian-Chinese border, etc. A network of agents will be created in the city by the Soviet authorities by the middle of the third decade of the 20th century, and Soviet illegal agents began to work in the early 1920s. The History of Soviet agents in China and Shanghai, in particular, is studied quite well which cannot be said about the previous period. It is obvious that further serious work with archival sources is required to recreate as complete as possible the history of Russian legal and illegal agents in Shanghai in pre-Soviet times


Atlanti ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-123
Author(s):  
Elena Romanova

In Russia, state and municipal archives are in conditions of lack of archivists with specialized education and rising average age for practicing archivists. At the same time the requirements to the archival profession are changing rapidly in the era of information technology and digital data. Together with the constant modification of programs of the higher education institutions the new forms of training and retraining of archivists are developing. The paper presents the role of the All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute for documentation and archives (VNIIDAD) in professional training and retraining of archivists and records managers in Russia. Actual questions concerning organization of training process and the subject-matter of the proposed courses in modern conditions are covered.


REGIONOLOGY ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-302
Author(s):  
Evgeny V. Kremnyov ◽  
Vladimir V. Ananiev

Introduction. The variety of elements of the field of regional studies in Japan makes it possible to state that the sources of regional studies are heterogeneous not only in content, but also in their relation to different historical periods. The objective of the study is to analyze the processes of development of proto-regional knowledge in Japan from ancient times until the middle of the 19th century Materials and Methods. Japanese works on history and geography, as well as works by Russian researchers in the considered fields were used as the materials of the study. Particular attention was paid to historical and geographical texts; other sources (religious texts, poetic texts, etc.) were also considered. The basic methods employed were those of systemic, comparative, conceptual and terminological analysis. Results. The article discusses the stages of development of proto-regional knowledge in Japan in the framework of traditional science. Based on the analysis of works created before the middle of the 19th century, the authors conclude that the basic factor in the formation and development of knowledge about regions was the opposition “We vs. Others,” characteristic of Japanese ethnoculture, and this knowledge itself is largely Japanocentric. The article reveals the role of several schools of traditional science: kokugaku (school of national sciences), rangaku / yogaku (Dutch / European studies) and kangaku (school of Chinese sciences), as well as the role of their cultural and ideological confrontation in stimulating the development of proto-regional knowledge. Discussion and Conclusion. The article presents the results of the initial stage of a comprehensive study, which will examine the history of the development of Japanese regional knowledge and the methodology of regional research in Japan. The results of the work may be useful to researchers and specialists in the field of history of regional development of various countries and regions.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document