Okhrana

...Even in politics after the Great Reforms, the bureaucracy was often at odds with both the liberal and conservative factions of the zemstvo and the dvoryanskoe obshchestvo, but by the end of the century this had changed to a conservative character that protected the vested interests of the bureaucracy. After the assassination of Alexander II (1855-81) by the People's Will faction and the withdrawal of Loris-Melikov's proposal for a kind of advisory council, the new emperor Alexander III (1881-94), under the influence of Pobedonostsev, expressed his determination to maintain autocracy, and his successor Nicholas II also rejected the hopes of the zemstvo representatives to participate in national politics as an absurd illusion. The growing reactionary movement under these two emperors led the empire into an era of revolution, despite the strengthening of the okhrana, a system of measures to counter revolution. Of the ministries, the Ministry of the Interior was the most important, with broad authority ranging from public security to peasant administration and command authority over governors. In contrast, in the second half of the 19th century, the Ministry of Finance, which also handled commerce and industry administration, became a powerful government agency, but the emperor was unable to mediate the policy conflicts between the two ministries, as exemplified by the efforts of DA Tolstoy and Witte, respectively.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "okhrana" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…〈大改革〉後の政治においても官僚はしばしばゼムストボや貴族団dvoryanskoe obshchestvoの自由派，保守派の双方と対立したが，世紀末にはこれは官僚の既得権擁護の保守的性格のものに変わった。　人民の意志派によるアレクサンドル2世(在位1855‐81)の暗殺でロリス･メリコフの一種の諮問議会案が撤回されたのち，新帝アレクサンドル3世(在位1881‐94)はポベドノスツェフの影響下に専制護持の決意を表明し，続くニコライ2世もゼムストボ代表の国政参加の希望を〈ばかげた幻想〉として退け，この二人の皇帝の下での反動の高まりが，オフラナokhranaと呼ばれる革命防圧機構の強化にかかわらず，帝国を革命の時代に導いていった。各省のなかでは，公安関係から農民行政までの広い権限と知事に対する指揮権をもつ内務省が最も重要で，これに対して19世紀後半には，商工行政をも担当した財務省が有力官庁となったが，それぞれD.A.トルストイとウィッテの活躍に代表される両省の政策面での対立についても，皇帝には調整能力がなかった。…

※「okhrana」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報