ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we put our analytical results into an interdisciplinary synthetic perspective. We conceptualize the contemporary epoch in Russia based on ten fundamental tension fields. These antinomies are not necessarily articulated as interrelated political problematiques, in which case the choices are outside the control of Russian agencies, being, for example, enforced by global markets or foreign policy constrains. That said, there is no external agency that could determine the complex whole of modernization antinomies within Russia. In most cases, the Russian elites balance themselves within the antinomy. We have emphasized the genuine multiplicity of agency, bringing into the picture counter-forces and power resources beyond the elites. There is no coherent ‘other Russia’ that would somehow emerge out of the blue, but the conservative power bloc is certainly not the only force determining the future of Russia. In Russian society, there is a great need to articulate a political programme of more social justice, towards a real multiplicity and inclusiveness of political participation, and one of ecological responsibility. All these challenges must be faced in a global environment of climate change, and in an international system that risks the prospect of being locked into a new Cold War.
