Civic Identity: Diversity of Meanings and Achievement of Solidarity

Abstract

The concept of identity reflects the ongoing shifts in political theories when external parameters that did not previously fall into the optics of political research become a part of political reflection and political analysis. Emphasizing sociocultural issues captures not only the departure from the linear normativity of political theory and pragmatics but also the search for modern explanatory models that cannot be reduced merely to institutional determinism. The controversy and ambiguity of the civic identity concept are imposed on the need for interpreting the formation of civic communities in the newly emerged independent countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union (on the example of Russia and Armenia), including the possibilities of protest and project identity. Methodologically the article is based on the perception that the construction of civic identity cannot be reduced to the normative understanding only. The authors bring out the causal complexes that predetermine the construction of civic identity, while also highlighting the differences in how civic communities and their value focuses are perceived and constructed in Russia and Armenia. The authors also define the general features of civic identity, which can be described as a common basis of solidarity, the removal of particularity and a shared vision of the future.