THE DICHOTOMY OF EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE

Abstract

The subject of the research is liberal and conservative concepts of Russian and Western
socio-political thought of the XIX - early XX centuries on the problem of the relationship
between external and internal development of the state. The goal of the research is to reveal
the specifics of the socio-philosophical and political views of Russian and Western
conservatism and liberalism on the state development priority course selection problem. The
article examines the views of prominent Russian and foreign thinkers and politicians on the
correlation between the domestic and foreign policy of the state. Two main directions were
formed in the socio-political thought of the XIX - early XX centuries liberal and
conservative, studying the problem of the internal or external state development dominant
determination. The liberal direction is characterized by the understanding of human freedom
and well-being as the highest value and the ultimate goal of all state policy. Followers of the
conservative approach defended great-power values, the priority of the state primacy. Since
the XIX century, liberal ideas of state development have become dominant in socio-political
thought in the West and Russia. However, Russian liberalism was significantly different from
Western liberalism, combining the ideas of conservatism.