Abstract

In a first and most general approach to our topic, three questions are of especial importance: Does a country that has not yet really bid farewell to the style of life and thought under conditions of a fundamentalist, essentially clerical regime and state really need an ideology? What is ideology as a phenomenon, what functions does it fulfill objectively, and are these functions fading in modern society and in the foreseeable future? Finally, if after answering the first two questions we nonetheless still opt for an integrative ideology for Russia-and that is this author's choice-then what qualities of this ideology would be most conducive to the country's renewal and resurgence, to the social effectiveness of its political and economic order, and to its competitiveness on the world markets of commodities, services, ideas, culture, and lifestyle?