«ГЕОПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ РЕВОЛЮЦИИ» КАК МЕХАНИЗМ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ ТЕРРИТОРИАЛЬНОЙ СТРУКТУРЫ РОССИИ XVI–XIX вв.

Abstract

Based on comparing the models of territorial development of the statehood in the West and in Russia, the article identifies civilization features of the Russian state’s development, which have been determined, in essential moments, by the unique spatial-geographical and cultural-historical conditions of Eurasia. Geopolitically vulnerable position of Russia, starting from its earliest state prototype — Kievan Rus’, the openness and amorphous character of its borders facing the habitat areas of warlike steppe nomads, combined to determine the historically prolonged and complex process of stabilizing its state territory. The latter’s development not only took shape of its expansion or contraction but implied the substantial changes in the basic power configuration, as well as in the functional and strategic role of individual lands and regions. Under these conditions, one of the main directions of Russia’s state development had to become the improvement and stabilization of its geopolitical position, together with the formation of a territorial structure that would best meet these tasks. The groupings of events and processes associated with deep qualitative transformations of these areas of the state development are suggested to be defined as “geopolitical revolutions”. The content of this concept, motivations and mechanisms of the “geopolitical revolution” are analyzed using the example of the forced transformation of the territorial foundations of the Russian statehood during the 12th–16th centuries. For the Imperial era of the Russian history, it is proposed to distinguish three critically important periods of transformation which, having as the basis a similar and successively inherited “program” of actions, fall under the characteristics of the “geopolitical revolution”. This concept, making it possible to systematize historical material better and highlight the dominants of the state development, could serve as the basis for a comprehensive periodization of the Russian history.