National Idea: the View of a Geographer

Abstract

The formulation of the national idea takes place in the context of a sharp escala­tion of the struggle for power as a result of the transition to a multipolar world, a fundamental slowdown in demographic and economic growth, the beginning of the second global disintegration cycle and the end of the five-hundred-year domination of the West. Russia developed Siberia, but was at the same time a product of it. Probably, the national character and the national idea were largely formed by centuries of moving to the Pacific. Without Siberia, the coun­try would now occupy the same modest place other metropolises of former co­lonial empires do. National idea should be inspired by the independence of thoughts and the spirit of the pioneers. The large-scale projects which form large-scale personalities to prevent the spread of ignorance and a learned-out helplessness are necessary for the development of the country. The L.N. Gu­milev’s geographic-psychological concept gains in this context special interest. “The saving of the people” should have not only the demographic but also the energetic dimension. Gumilev’s concept is meant to restore the position of the natural sciences in the formation of the scientific view of the world which sees humanity as a part of nature with special qualities. It is also necessary to re­think the position of V.I. Vernadsky about the organization of the learning people in the context of the mobilization model of the development of society. The es­sence of this model should be the mobilization model of education, which should be considered as the basis of the national idea.