The civilizational approach to the analysis of modern world political processes highlights the role of the issue of cultural and civilizational diversity in the 21st century. The study of the role of universal human values in the context of the civilizational paradigm of world development has an important applied character, since the process of forming a multipolar system of world order is accompanied by an increase in the problem of inter-civilizational competition.
For Russia, the preservation and strengthening of the state civilizational identity is a significant condition for its sovereignty and the strength of its position as one of the leading centers of world development.
The famous Russian scientist N.Ya. Danilevsky, the author of the concept of cultural-historical types, noted that the peculiarity of Russian foreign policy since the era of Peter the Great is manifested in the fact that when Russian interests are at the center of policy, the country achieves the greatest success in the international arena.
The stages of the formation of Russian statehood were accompanied by the processes of unification, the interaction of cultures of different ethnic groups, and the formation of common traditions and spiritual values. In his article “Russia: the national question”, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin points to the great mission of Russians – to unite and bind civilization. “With language, culture, ‘universal responsiveness’, as defined by Fyodor Dostoevsky, to bind Russian Armenians, Russian Azerbaijanis, Russian Germans, Russian Tatars… To bind them into such a type of state-civilization where there are no ‘ethnic minorities’, and the principle of recognizing ‘friend or foe’ is determined by a common culture and common values.”1
Spiritual and moral values, formed throughout the history of the Russian state, are an important component of its civilizational identity and are distinguished by traditional principles of humanism and interethnic and interreligious harmony. Considering values as the meaning of human behavior, motivating his way of life, it is worth noting that the loss of traditional spiritual and moral guidelines poses a threat to the civil unity of society. Religion occupies a special place in the opposition to informational methods of implanting Western secular ideology. Religious consciousness is directly related to the system of values that determine the behavior of an individual in accordance with generally accepted traditional customs and ideals. The diversity of the confessional space of Russia characterizes the history of domestic statehood.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, in his speech at the 17th World Russian People's Council, dedicated to the theme “Russia: civilization country. Solidary Society and the future of the Russian people”, noted the unique historical experience of Russia, which contributed to the creation of conditions for the emergence and formation of a state-civilization “with its own set of values, its own laws of social development, its own model of society and state, its own system of historical and spiritual coordinates.”2
In modern international relations, when the Western world is pursuing a provocative policy towards Russia, aimed at inciting interethnic and interreligious conflicts, issues of national peace and harmony are of particular relevance.
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1Putin V.V. Russia: the national question. Nezavisimaya 23.01.2012.
2 Speech of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the 17th World Russian People's Council. URL: http://www.vrns.ru/news/2237 (date accessed: 05.01.2025).
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