Translations of Cameralists in the Eighteenth-Century Russian Empire

Peter Burke once noted that translators, like historians, are “serving two masters and attempting to reconcile fidelity to the original with intelligibility to their readers” (2007). It is particularly interesting to examine how translation functioned during the emergence of a new political-economic reality and its language in the formation of a well-ordered police state. Among the texts on political economy translated from German into Russian, the most important were those on cameral and police sciences. The history of their translation is embedded in the broader history of cultural transfer (Espagne).

Manuscript translations of Wilhelm von Schröder (1640–1688) on the prince’s treasury from the early eighteenth century, the numerous multi-volume book and journal translations of Johann H. G. von Justi (1717–1771) on manufactures, welfare, and the science of state governance, and the influential translation of Joseph F. von Sonnenfels’s (1732–1817) book on politics and finance form the basis for reflections on the translation of the concepts of state, society, welfare, happiness (Glückseligkeit), and police (Policey). The paper is mainly focused on two questions: what was translated, and in what manner (with what intentions) were the translations carried out? At times, information about the translators and the intended audience provides additional context for understanding the adaptation, transfer, and reception of these ideas. In my research, I proceed from the non-neutrality of translation (not merely a linguistic transfer), but instead consider it as a process of profound transformation, appropriation, and semantic interaction. The political, aesthetic, and intellectual act of translation and transfer invites reflection on a broader “bracket” under the name of the Baroque that brings these translations together in the age of the Enlightenment.

Danila Raskov is a researcher at the Department of Economic History, Uppsala U. He holds a PhD in Economic History from St Petersburg State U (2000) and the title of Docent in Economic and Social History from the U of Helsinki (2025). Before joining Uppsala, he was a fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (2022–2024). His research covers the origins of political economy, the intellectual history, the history of monetary thought, economic methodology, and the relation between economics and religion. Recently, his work has focused on cameralism in Northern Europe and monetary thought on mining and copper coinage in the 17th and 18th centuries. Raskov held fellowships at Humboldt University (Berlin, 2025), Walras and Pareto Centre (Lausanne, 2012, 2017), the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (2015), and the Lichtenberg-Kolleg (Göttingen, 2018). He served on the Council of the ESHET (2018–2024). He is the author of the books "The Economic Institutions of Old Believers" (2012) and "The Rhetoric of Institutional Economics" (2023), both published in Russian. He is currently working on the book Cameralism in the Building of the Russian Empire: Administrative and Intellectual Discourses on the Well-Ordered State.