Globalization, Modernization and National Identity: a Positive Synthesis of the Data on the Dynamics of Macrosystems

The paper analyses globalization, modernization and national identity as the phe­nomena of the same problem field. It points out that there is an overlooked fact in the debates about globalization and modernization as the roots of the problem of national identity, as well as about the negative evaluation of these processes in the Russian public consciousness. The so-called “crisis of identity” should be viewed as not the outcome of globalization but as a failed response to its chal­lenges. An adequate response would mean modernization as self-imposed de­velopment. The concept of the “Eastern turn” of Russian self-consciousness is also studied. Westernization as well as the “Eastern” modernization project are set in opposition to an ideologically and geopolitically neutral thesis about self-imposed development of society (real change toward a modern productive econ­omy and corresponding institutions and values). A particular attention is paid to the natural factor and rent-based economy as its result. “Positive synthesis” is defined as a generalizing metatheoretical study that is based on economical, so­ciological and theoretical historical data.