In search of an ideal for social development: the Eurasian interpretation of the State as an alternative to European democracy

Abstract

The paper explores the Eurasian understanding of the state as a “sobor” personality, ideocracy, a “guarantee” state and a “state of truth” as a special path of social development and state structure. The origins of “sobornost” can be traced back to the views of V.S. Solovyov on “vseedinstvo”. “Sobornost” as the basis of the social development of Rus-Russia is an alternative to Western individualism, embodied in the democratic path of development. In Eurasianism, the principle of “sobornost” was applied by L.P. Karsavin to the state, which was understood as a certain “cultural-subject”, “sobor” or “sym­phonic” personality. The “sobor” state is the unity of all its constituent groups and indi­viduals, consolidated by the “ruling layer” and the “idea-ruler”. The state, as a “sobor” personality, was understood by Eurasianism in several qualities – as an ideocratic state, in which the “ruling layer” is subordinate to the highest “idea-ruler”; as a “guarantee” state, in which the “ruling layer” is organically linked to the people and “guarantees” the achievement of positive State objectives; as a “state of truth”, representing a social union aimed at realizing the ideal of a higher truth.