Criticism of modern liberal ideas about political modernization and the imperial tradition of Russia

The study is concerned with the situation in Russian science in the post-Soviet period, when one of the dominant directions of social research was the idea of modernization as an exclusively “western” model. This approach implied following certain canons, which Russian society not only did not comply with but also because of its “defectiveness” could not do. This is especially hindered by imperial and nationalist traditions which post-Soviet society has largely preserved in its core. The paper emphasizes that the application of Western methodology to study Russian post-Soviet modernization naturally led to a negative result, for example, with regard to ranking the Russian Federation according to a number of Western development indices. According to representatives of the liberal expert community, this not only indicates that Russian society is unwilling to change the terms of a specific strategy but also deprives our country of such a future opportunity. Moreover, in the assessment of supporters of the liberal path, Russia constantly demonstrates examples of “imperial ambitions” and imperial nationalist thinking, the latest example of which is the “Russian World” project. The author concludes that the application of a liberal approach to the modern choice of the path of renewal for our country is one-sided and unacceptable.