Problemy współczesnej modernizacji Rosji

The beginning of Vladimir Putin’s third term of office incites a search for answers what will the Russian Federation’s interior and foreign politics’ course be like. Modern Russia is awaiting crucial challenges regarding its place and status within the new reality connected with the shaping of the global information society. According to historical evidence, countries that adapt quickly to the new way of functioning might achieve a certain supremacy and therefore get profits coming from the newly created information civilization. States unable to conduct those changes will be pushed aside. That is why one of the main problems and challenges awaiting political decision-makers, especially those in developing countries, is how to conduct certain social, political and economical changes in order not to lose their position in relation to the top developed countries. For this reason during the last couple of years the idea of modernisation became a subject of arguments and disputes within the ruling elite as well as within the opposition, scholars, publicists and political affairs commentators. They all agree that present-day Russia needs modernisation, otherwise the state will become the outskirts of the world. If Russia wants to keep its international status, it has to be innovative and competitive and this can only be achieved by modernisation, Currently, a dispute is taking place within Russian political elites regarding the range and pace of changes. As for the Putin–Medvedev power duo, the first one occupies a conservative position, but the second one supports deep modernisation, that would include economy and political institutions.