Civil society in Russian Federation: features of development and differences from European countries

The essay is devoted to the consideration of such a phenomenon as civil society and the specifics of its development in Russia, in comparison with the European countries. Special attention is paid to various problems (both historically rooted and actualised in the modern period of the country's development), which hinder the formation of the democratic state. The author analyses the factors that positively and negatively affect the democratisation of Russia, and also suggests ways of solving problems in the development of civil society and further institutionalisation of the rule of law in the Russian Federation.