Within concepts of modernisation and the post-present, each society makes an evolutionary transition from a pre-modern to post-modern social system, so civil society changes from the traditional one. Therefore, sooner or later civil society in Russia has to develop to the high level equal to post-modern social systems. The Rechtsstaat and civil society as its equal partner represent an ideal for most citizens, who want their rights to be protected. The Russian President understands civil identity as a main factor in building a nation. The government of the Russian Federation pays a great deal of attention to questions of the formation of civil identity. Despite this, researchers do not observe the growth of civil identity. The question is, what blocks the process of its formation?The author defines civil identity as socially caused positioning of the individual in the civil sphere in a congruent ratio: “I — corporal”, “I — mental” and “I — rational”. On the basis of this definition, the author traces a ratio of data from a component in Europe and in Russia during various historical eras (antiquity, the middle ages, modern, p ostmodern).On the basis ofthe analysis, the author draws a conclusion that from the methodological point of view, the concept of modernisation and the post-present are not applicable for understanding the specifics of civil identity formation in Russia. The Russian civil identity cannot develop on the European template. A basis of civil identity of the European type — individualism — differs in the Russian society essentially by other identification bases — sobornost and obshchinnost. In other words, civil society in Russia will carry civilisation features from the past while it will be under construction on others, the socio cultural bases in Europe. Paraphrasing Cicero’s words, the “welfare of the Republic lies in character of citizens”, and the political and legal systems of the state (civil society) are predetermined by national consciousness, that is, the history, culture and spirit of the people.