“Civilization” As a Local Phenomenon: The First Stage of Theoretical Study

The author examines the first stage of theoretical research of the concept of “local civilizations”. Nowadays this approach protects the right of non-Western communities to  independently and authentically define their way of development. If  non-Western macro-regions accept the understanding  of civilization as a universal phenomenon, their development will be determined by Western experience. In case those non-Western regions (and Russia as well) are seen as distinctive civilizational formations, their right to determine the ideal social/state structures and future development for themselves is recognized.  The stage of classical comprehension was overshadowed by the crisis of the imperial form of existence of large geopolitical spaces and was an attempt to formulate new foundations of their identities. The article reviews the ideas of N. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee and P. Sorokin. The author also evaluates the heuristic potential of the methodological approaches by the scholars of the fundamental wave.