Russian national values in terms of the development of collective identity

The article highlights the question of the national values, which can become the basis of the stability and the long-term development of the multi-ethnic society in the process of social and political transformation, accompanied by the loss of ideological orientations. The authors show the dual role of values in society. On the one hand, the values form traditions and contribute to the system’s stability; on the other hand, they are the road map for the future, the source of the development and innovations. National values are presented as the core of political culture and moral life, ‘ties’ of national unity, which do not contradict the values of nationalities and ethnic groups. Exploration of the national values, as a unifying principle, encourages to find similarities in the diversity, provides the basis for the nation’s development. The article studies the problems of the formation of the civil nation and the spread of national identity in modern Russian society. The analysis shows different contradictions regarding these issues. Firstly, there is the lack of a clear goal concerning modernization of Russian society, and there is no comprehensive vision of its development components including values. Such terms as ‘civilization’, ‘empire’, ‘sovereign state’, ‘multinational community’ are mixed in the discourse of power. The article raises the question of the Russian civil nation concept, based on the principles of federalism, rid of the mixture of civilizational terms. Secondly, there is a significant regional disproportion in the perception of national unity as ‘we are Russians’ identity. Despite several surveys outcomes proving national identity existence, the article presents indicators of the single regions, national republics, ethnic and socio-demographic groups, which do not confirm such unity. The authors pay special attention to the identification of the all-Russian national values and their importance in the development strategy.This article is written within the framework of a study supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF). Project № 15-18-00119 “Historical experience of ethnic diversity and ethno-confessional conflicts management in Imperial, Soviet and post-Soviet Russia: interdisciplinary research”