Multi-vector orientations of Russia’s civilizational development

Abstract

The problem of choosing the path of civilizational development is considered in a broad historical context. The geographical position of Russia has not allowed it to stay absolutely separate from the whole world: the unique wideness of the territory makes it “open” from the West to the East and from the South to the North.

The consequence of this had been and remain both Russia’s vulnerability to invasion (in all senses of the word) and the advantage of accessing to as well as profiting from cultural, scientific, technоlogic achievements of the neighboring civilizations. The vectors of this process constantly changed mainly due to political situations.

Russia has repeatedly found itself at a crossroads, and even today it has not fully decided to choose the vector of development followed by the West or that one which the peoples of the East prefer? The attractiveness of Western civilization is in principle clear. The West has created the most comfortable society that provides its citizens with a high standard of living and significant social support. It is at the forefront of scientific progress, equipped with the latest technology. In the West, democratic institutions and various forms of civil society are widely functioning.

And in what the experience of civilizational development of Asian states representing Eastern civilizations could be useful for Russia? This is the question that this article attempts to answer.