This article describes the civilizational and formational approaches in the social sciences, its varieties and implications of the economy and politics of the USSR and Russia. The peculiarities of the Russian culture and the application of the civilizational approach to it are revealed. The concept of national ideal as the general law of cultural development is summarized, and the issue of civilizational fault of Russia is considered.

Keywords: civilizational approach, formational approach, Russian religious philosophy, Eurasianism, passionary ethnogenesis, national ideal.