Welcome to the Eighteenth-Century Russian Empire Studies Association. The ECRESA, an affiliate of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), aims to facilitate and expand the study of eighteenth-century Russia across the disciplines. This site is designed as a resource for ECRESA members to learn about events, conferences, and colleagues’ recent publications and research in progress. Members are encouraged to submit information to the webmaster for inclusion in the site (hilde.hoogenboom@asu.edu).
Winner of the 2025 Marc Raeff Book Prize
Tilman Plath. Peters “unsichtbare Hand”? Außenhandelspolitik und ökonomisches Denken im Russland des 18. Jahrhunderts. Quellen und Studien zur Baltischen Geschichte. Köln, Böhlau, 2025.
Plath's book is a groundbreaking study of the economic history of the tsarist empire in the 18th century, linking, for the first time, the history of economic thought in Russia with the history of foreign trade policy from Peter I to Catherine II. By examining the measures taken by the tsarist government in its trade policy and comparing them with its objectives, thus focusing on successes and failures over a moyenne durée, the author arrives at fundamental insights into the opportunities and failures of Russian economic policy.
Peters “unsichtbare Hand” is constructed as a history of Russia's relations with Western Europe. Drawing on the writings of 18th century economic thinkers such as Heinrich von Storch, Wilhelm Christian Friebe, Mikhail D. Čulkov, and Anton Friedrich Büsching, as well as Plath’s own analysis of countless Russian trade policy measures, it traces the history of ideas and the appropriation—or, at times, deliberate non-appropriation—of West European concepts such as mercantilism, physiocracy, and political economy in Russia relative to the policies of Russia's West European neighbours. The reader gains a deep understanding of the reasons why the tsarist empire was unable to overcome its economic inferiority vis-à-vis Great Britain and Holland, despite strong economic policy interventions intended to strengthen the northwestern port cities of St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Riga, and Reval.
This book is an outstanding work of scholarship. Plath masterfully substantiates his core thesis, according to which participating as an equal in the global economic system would have been possible for Russia only if the protectionist policies initiated by Peter I had been continued by his successors and had been accompanied by domestic policies to improve the condition of merchants and the urban population. Peters “unsichtbare Hand” is, quite simply, an excellent read: written in a wonderfully accessible style, it sets a high standard for a new form of economic history in which intellectual and social history are combined with economic analysis and examined in a transnational context.
Among the contenders for the 2025 Marc Raeff Prize, the Committee recognizes a second work as receiving an honorable mention: Anna Joukovskaia. L’État quotidien. Administrer la Russie au XVIIIe siècle. Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales, 2025.
Prizes will be awarded at the meeting of the Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies Association at the ASEEES conference annual meeting virtually on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 11-12 pm EST.2025 ECRESA Prize Selection Committee: Prof. Vera Proskurina (Committee Chair), Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Prof. Endre Sashalmi, Kincsesbánya, Hungary; Prof. Alexander Martin, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA; Prof. Andrey Ivanov, Platteville, Wisconsin, USA; Dr. Kirill Kochegarov, Moscow, Russia; Dr. Erica Camisa Morale, Los Angeles, CA, USA and Milan, Italy; and Prof. Dr. Ricarda Vulpius, Münster, Germany.
ВИВЛIОθИКА: E-Journal of Eighteenth-Century Russian Empire Studies
ВИВЛIОθИКА: E-Journal of Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies (ISSN: 2333-1658)—the flagship journal of the Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies Association—is a peer-reviewed, scholarly, online publication devoted to the culture and history of the Russian Empire during ‘the long eighteenth century’ (1660-1830). We define ‘Russian’ broadly, meaning more-or-less the Russian Еmpire, inclusive of non-Russian ethnicities, nationalities, and confessions. The journal is open to submissions in all relevant disciplines and in all the major languages in which eighteenth-century Russian studies is researched. It is intended to provide a forum for the promotion, dissemination and critical analysis of original scholarly research on eighteenth-century Russian studies, based on a spirit of internationalism and a belief in the principle of accessibility. Authors interested in submitting items for inclusion in forthcoming volumes should consult the the submission guidelines on the journal’s website. Inquiries can also be addressed to individual members of the journal’s editorial board.
We would welcome feedback and comments on our recent issue.
Yours sincerely,
ВИВЛIОθИКА Editorial Board
Ernest Zitser, Duke University (USA): ernest.zitser@duke.edu
Robert Collis, The University of Helsinki (Finland): robert.collis@helsinki.fi
Olga Tsapina, The Huntington Library (USA): otsapina@huntington.org
Gary Marker, State University of New York at Stony Brook (USA): gmarker@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Elena Smilianskaia, National Research University-Higher School of Economics (Russian Federation): esmilian@mail.ru
Igor Fedyukin, National Research University-Higher School of Economics (Russian Federation): fedyukin@yahoo.com
Vladislav Rjéoutski, The University of Bristol (United Kingdom): vladislav.rjeoutski@bristol.ac.uk
Ingrid Schierle, The University of Tübingen, (Germany): ingrid.schierle@uni-tuebingen.de