In Search of National Model of Development:
Appealing to Archaization
Stepanyants M.T.,
Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Professor, Head of the UNESCO Chair “Philosophy in the Dialogue of Cultures”, Principal Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, marietta@iph.ras.ru
elibrary_id: 105429 |
DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2016.06.04
Stepanyants M.T. In Search of National Model of Development: Appealing to Archaization. – Polis. Political Studies. 2016. No. 6. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2016.06.04
Arсhaization in ideology and politics is not of an unambiguous meaning. That is unexpectedly demonstrated by India which since 1947 has been well known as strongly committed to secularism. The policy pursued by the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the one hand, is marked by remarkably manifested archaism. This is evident by his rhetoric and methods used (Yatra, panchamrut, slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, etc.); by the struggle against the KHAM program, resulting in increasing inter-religious and inter-caste tension accompanied by bloody pogroms. On the other hand, the course on “Development” taken by N. Modi at the cost of the course on “Equality”, previously conducted by the ruling party Indian National Congress, demonstrates impressive successes. Archaism manifests not as an end in itself but as a force which mobilizes for modernization without loss of national identity. The expected results may be both positive (spurt in growth and joining the vanguard of world economic powers) and negative (economic growth reached by the establishment of the dictatorial regime, based on Hindu nationalism). Archaisation of the contemporary socio-political space is caused simultaneously by internal political reasons and by the crisis of a globalist model of modernization. The search for national models of modernization makes appeal to antiquity. Ideological archaism performing as a mobilizing force (as it has been seen in Gandhism) is not always positive. The opposite effect – is often observed: warming up of nationalist passions up to extreme chauvinism (Nazism, terrorist Islamism). Archaism in politics leads to the assertion of dictatorial regimes. Archaism in economics may become a serious obstacle to the introduction of new production methods and technologies. Hence there is an urgent necessity of the united efforts so that through intercultural discourse to come to intercultural philosophy of globalization which could cover the past, present and future of the planet.