The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1894–1914

Abstract

The previous chapters have shown that the organisation and operation of the British diplomatic establishment before 1914 were profoundly influenced by changes in the wider administrative and political environment. While the liberal political structures and values inherent in the British constitution placed constraints on the ability of Foreign Office officials and diplomats to set the course of the country’s foreign policy’ their impact on the policy making process at any particular time was governed by a complex matrix of domestic and international circumstances. A focus on institutional structures and constitutional norms cannot therefore alone reveal the true character of the British diplomatic establishment. The Russian diplomatic establishment can be analysed through a similar intellectual prism. By examining the formal organisational structure of the tsarist Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstvo inostrannykh del or MID)’ as well as its changing role in the formulation of Russian foreign policy in the years before 1914’ it is possible to see how the operation and influence of the country’s diplomatic establishment were affected by a wide array of factors.