The tradition of Russian liberalism consisted of notable thinkers (B. Chicherin, P. Novgorodtsev, I. Ilyin, P. Struve, S. Frank et al.) who criticized Western liberalism in their writings and offered their own understanding of state and political sphere. Understanding freedom as the inner and spiritual quality of individual, Russian thinkers considered belonging to state, which is the embodiment of the spiritual national culture, as condition sine qua non for the realization of personal freedom. The main principles of Western liberalism are struggle between political parties and election procedures, which lead to the "formal" democracy; Russian philosophers were supporters of the "creative" democracy (the term of 1. Ilyin). Its main principles are solidarity of all citizens in the strengthening of state, understood in its spiritual essence, and procedures of selection of "the best people", who are the most capable for creative management of the community. Civil society has to play the leading role in the process of such selection.