№ 2 - 2006
Kustaryov A. S.
Max Weber on Modernization of the Russian Autocracy

The content of the article consists in the analysis of the essays "To the Condition of Bourgeois Democracy in Russia" and "Russia's Transition to Pseudoconstitutionalism", which M.Weber wrote in 1906 giving account of his impressions of the revolution of 1905. The author concentrates mostly on the second essay which treats of modernization of the Russian monarchy. On examining the German sociologist's findings and critical remarks apropos of the state system arising in Russia, of the constitution as a factor of the political process and of the culture of the political behaviour of this process' agents, the author demonstrates that in the Russian studies of 1906 actually the first outline is to be found, of the famous scheme known as "the Weber triangle". According to the author's conclusion, Weber's reflections about the attempt to construct a constitutional monarchy in Russia are directly related to modern discussions around "constitutionalism", and the formula derived by him from the realities of the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th centuries and stressing the necessity of separating politics from administration, is a generalization fit for all epochs and peoples.