Key Debate 1 - How Liberal was Russian government from 1855-81 Flashcards
1
Q
Changes to Government
A
Alexander II regarded as ‘Tsar Liberator’, but his reforms were mostly ineffective. There is some consensus that Alexander never wavered from being an autocrat, making only one small change to government when introducing the Council of Ministers in 1861.
Zemstva in 1864, new form of local government was fairly effective. The zemstva did much good work in the fields of education and local economies, with much of this down to the 3rd element. So effective that it was copied and applied to towns and cities in 1870 with the City Dumas. However, limited as only 43/70 provinces had duma by 1900. Moreover, they were dominated by the nobility and the extent to which democracy was introduced is questionnable.
