Russian Idea and Prospects for Democracy V V Serbinenko Can the Russian philosophical tradition be of any use when setting realistic and properly beneficial aims of development for the country ? Is the democratic idea compatible with the Russian idea ? Are attempts at democratic reform doomed from the outset? Is the rule of the people of Russia a Utopia which may be employed to specific political ends but never realised in fact? This paper examines strands of Russian philosophical thought of the 19th and 20th centuries and their potential to provide answers to these questions.
