L.A. TIKHOMIROV AND P.I. NOVGORODTSEV ABOUT THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF IDEALIZATION OF DEMOCRACY

Abstract

In Russia democratization took place in more difficult conditions than in the European countries: along with modernization and industrialization, which provoked a crisis and exposed some negative aspects of democratization. Tikhomirov L.A. and Novgorodtsev P.I. covered these aspects in their works and tried to find a compromise alternative for democratization of Russia. These philosophers represent opposite ideological currents in Russian political and philosophical thought - conservatism and liberalism. However, they have a similar vision of the problems that go along with the idea of democracy: 1) liberal democracy turns citizens into consumers; 2) democracy in the absence of a developed sense of justice leads the state to decay and anarchy; 3) without a spiritual basis, which should be found in religion, democracy turns either to oligarchic rule, or totalitarianism, or leads to the dissipation of the state. According to these philosophers, Russia is more suitable for the democratization of certain aspects of social life, based on local circumstances.