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This analysis of the attitudes of Alexander I towards representative government is based on fifty years of work on Russian political history, and in particular on a study of the international organization of the post‐Napoleonic peace and, more recently, the reign of Alexander I.
In the light of recent events in Russia, this essay suggests some obvious comparisons between Alexander I and Gorbachev. Both wanted to liberalize the government of their empire without damaging the legitimacy of the new institutions to be created with respect to the existing regime. Both were thrown out of power, the former to put a stop to reforms, the latter to speed them up, at the risk of destroying the legitimacy of the central authority over the various parts of the empire.
