The article poses, in particular, the issue of universality of Eurocentric capitalism and of alternatives to the contemporary model of social development. Problems of methodology of analyzing Russian social history are considered, in the context of the political changes in modern world. The review of the models of such analysis (of the models that are examined in detail in the subsequent articles of this rubric of the journal’s issue) is presented in the article in the context of the well-known theoretico-methodological approaches within non-linear analysis of political changes. The main attention is paid to the socio-cultural foundations of those socio-political changes that are experienced by Russia, and to analysis of the prospects of Russian modernization.