Conclusion

Abstract

This concluding chapter argues that Russian conservatism is a response to the pressures of modernization and Westernization and, more recently, globalization. For the past two centuries, conservatives have sought to adapt to these pressures while preserving national identity and political and social stability. Although the specific policies being proposed have changed over time, conservatism's approach to change has remained consistent. In this way, Russian conservatism today evinces a clear continuity with Russian conservatism of the past. In particular, Russian conservatives have continually proposed forms of cultural, political, and economic development that are seen as building on existing traditions, identity, and forms of government and economic and social life, rather than being imposed on the basis of abstract theory and foreign models.