Challenges to government’s political culture of post-reform Russia

The social challenges facing the leadership of the Russian Empire in the post-reform period and ways to solve them in the context of political culture are considered. An overview of the key aspects and difficult points of movement to the revolutionary upheavals of 1905-1907 and 1917 presents. We are talking about the clash of external challenges in the form of requirements for the transformation of the social system in the form of «modernization» and «Europeanization» with the established principles of the Imperial management culture, based on traditional values and attitudes. In the process of reforms of Alexander II, an attempt was made to solve a number of socio-political problems. However, their result led to a sharp increase in illegal political opposition in the face of liberal and revolutionary subcultures. The activation of foreign policy as a means of dialogue with the public only increased dissatisfaction with the government’s course. Stabilization of the reign of Alexander III opened the way to the accelerated development of transport and industry, but the policy of «counter-reform» exacerbated social contradictions. The foreign policy mistakes of the government of Nicholas II, combined with the unresolved internal social and political problems, led first to the «dress rehearsal» of 1905, and then to the February revolution, 1917