“Russian Education is Stronger than the Russian Bayonet ...”: Educational Policy as an Element of the "Soft Power" Strategy in the Western Outlying Regions of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 19th – early 20th Centuries

The article is devoted to the educational policy of the Russian government, pursued by it in the western outskirts of the empire in the late XIX – early XX century, which was one of the key elements of the "soft power" strategy aimed at non-conflict
integration of the region into the imperial socio-political and cultural space. The educational and cultural policy pursued by the Russian imperial authorities, was aimed not only at educating the local population, but was designed to protect them from the alternative Polish assimilation project that opposed imperial integration. The management practice of the Russian authorities in the western outskirts included both harsh administrative and forceful methods and non-conflict integrative practices aimed at creating a positive symbolic capital of the imperial state principle, which was supposed to become attractive to regional communities, ensuring their loyalty and integration into the imperial society. The article discusses the evolution of the Russian educational policy in the western outlying regions, the main methods of its implementation, the characteristic features associated with the specifi c ethno-confessional features of the region. The study showed that the Russian administration paid considerable attention to the “correct formulation” of education in the spirit of strengthening “Russian state principles”, trying to instill in the minds of the local population the key elements of imperial identity, the most important of which was the state language, the knowledge of which was recognized as the most important marker of “Russianness”. Despite the fact that the Russian administration failed to turn education into a fullfledged element of the “soft power” policy, which was due to the need to completely remove it from the confl ict field, its cultural and educational policy had signifi cant positive results, having a huge impact on the formation of national cultures western regions of Russia.