The Russian Idea

Abstract

The controversial concept of “the Russian idea” is reviewed in light of changes in the history of the Russian state. Whether formulated by church hierarchs, statesmen, philosophers, ethnologists, or contemporary politicians, various stages in its conceptualization have helped build patriotism in the country. The Russian idea was developed in a multinationality empire, created on the basis of the spiritual Orthodox community and later distorted by Soviet power. The author argues that messianic ideas of an inherited “Third Rome” are no longer relevant, but that pragmatic ideas of multiethnic unity, stability, fairness and civic orientation can help rejuvenate Russia.

This article is the republished version of:

The Russian Idea

Notes

^1. Iu.G. Ershov, “Gosudarstvo bez idei—prosto naselennaia territoriia,” Diskurs Pi. Diskurs identichnosti, 2005, issue 5, p. 9.

^2. Ibid.

^3. A.N. Bokhanov, Russkaia ideia ot Vladimira sviatogo do nashikh dnei (Moscow, 2005), p. 12.

^4. Ibid., p. 38.

^5. Ibid., p. 57.

^6. P.Ia. Chaadaev, Poln. sobr. soch. i izbrannye pis'ma (Moscow, 1991), vol. 2, p. 96.

^7. N.Ia. Danilevskii, Rossiia i Evropa: vzgliad na kul'turnye i politicheskie otnosheniia Slavianskogo mira k Germano-Romanskomu (St. Petersburg, 1995).

^8. F.M. Dostoevskii, Dnevnik pisatelia (St. Petersburg, 1999), p. 304. [English version: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Diary of a Writer (New York: Octagon Books, 1973), p. 565.]

^9. N.F. Fedorov, Soch. (Moscow, 1982), p. 294.

^10. N.A. Berdiaev, Russkaia ideia. Sud'ba Rossii. (Moscow, 1997), p. 216. [English version: Nicolas Berdyaev, The Russian Idea (New York: Macmillan, 1947), pp. 248–50.]

^11. I.A. Il'in, Sobr. soch. (Moscow, 1998), vol. 7, pp. 457–58.

^12. Ibid., pp. 458, 464.

^13.Rossiia v poiskaki idei. Rabochie materialy Gruppy konsul'tantov pri Admi-nistratisii Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii (Moscow, 1997); A. Podberezkin, Russkii put' (Moscow, 1996), p. 17.

^14. See for greater detail: V.V. Alekseev, Obshchestvennyi potentsial istorii (Ekaterinburg, 2004), pp. 386–98.

^15. M.N. Arbatskaia, “Natsional'naia ideia v national'nykh devizakh,” Rossiia i sovremennyi mir, 2010, no. 2 (67), pp. 113–18.

^16. Ibid., p. 121.

^17. Kh.Dzh. Makkinder, “Geograficheskaia os' istorii” (trans. from English by M.A. Timofeev), Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniia, 1995, no. 4, p. 163. [English original: (Sir) Halford J. Mackinder, “The Geographical Pivot of History,” Geographical Journal, vol. 23, no. 4 (April 1904), pp. 421–37; Citation here is p. 423.]

^18. Kh.Dzh. Makkinder, “Kruglyi mir i dostizheniia mira” (trans. from English by K.I. Zubkov), Ural'skii istoricheskii vestnik, 1994, no. 1, p. 152–57. [English original: (Sir) Halford J. Mackinder, “The Round World and the Winning of the Peace,” Foreign Affairs; An American Quarterly Review, vol. 21, no. 4 (July 1943), pp. 595–605; citation here is pp. 597–601.]

^19. Ibid, p. 157.

^20. Makkinder, “Geograficheskaia os' istorii,” p. 169.

^21. Arbatskaia, “Natsional'naia ideia,” p. 121.

^22. S.S. Sulakshin, ed., Natsional'naia ideiia dlia Rossii. Programma deistvii (postanovka zadachi) (Moscow, 2009), p. 5.

^23. Ibid., p. 8.

^24. See for greater detail: Makkinder, “Kruglyi mir,” pp. 152–57.

^25. Ibid., p. 157.