YU Weimin
(№.5,2012)
Abstract: Ethnic nations in the course of modernization are divided into two kinds of nations: the ethnic nations guided by “civil nationalist” and the nations transformed from traditional dynasties, because of different origins of modernization. As a second type of nations, Russia, in the course of modernization and deciding its position, gets into an awkward corner, i.e. internal and external contradictions interact and hold each other up, hence a couple of contradictions cannot be smoothly transformed along with the common tendency of the movement of modern history. As a driving force for modernization, a nation always plays a most important role. But Russia’s historical sediments give it a heavy mission and bring up an extremely profound, nationalist-centered, national consciousness;
almost every time a historical turn is driven away from an established goal by a historical inertia because there is not enough driving force, and goes back to the nationalist road at last.
Key words: Russia; nationalism; modernization road; historical role; limitations
