Gayda F.A. Tauride Readings 2013. The Current Problems of Parliamentarism: History and Modernity. International Scientific Conference, Saint-Petersburg, Tauride Palace, 11–12 December 2013. Collected Scientific Papers / Edited by A. B. Nikolaev. In 2 volumes. Saint-Petersburg: ElecSis, 2014. Vol. 1. 360 p.; Vol. 2. 180 p.

Abstract: The reviewed collection of papers was put together from the presentations made during the international conference “Current Problems of Parliamentarism: History and Modernity” that took place in December 2013. The conference was held within the framework of the annual “Tauride Readings” and was organised by the Centre of the History of Parliamentarism at the Interparliamentary State Assembly – members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. At the conference, the topic of the relationship between parliament and monarchy in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was addressed, which included questions regarding the perception of the Duma by the Grand Prince environment and by right-wing Russian circles, as well as the role of the monarchy in the constitutional projects of Russian liberals. Particular attention was also devoted to the question of the correlation between political motivation and parliamentary rhetoric of the various sides represented in the pre-Revolutionary Duma. The conference also discussed the role of the Russian parliament in the preparation and victorious completion of the February Revolution of 1917. A separate section was devoted to the source study and archeographic problems concerning the history of Russian parliamentarism. The scientific articles were prepared on the basis of the presented papers and included in these volumes. This collection introduces for the first time special sections related to the organisation of Duma elections in the Russian Empire, as well as the parliamentary traditions of the far abroad (including a few papers on the history of the British parliament from its inception to the middle of the 20th century).

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