After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the humanities and social sciences effectively split into two camps, which M. Sokolov and K. Titaev refer to as "provincial" science and "native" science. "Provincial" science primarily focuses on adapting and retelling global science without creating new theories or concepts, though it is engaged in international exchange and context. In contrast, "native" science, for various reasons, remains isolated from external information sources and focuses on developing certain indigenous topics that often seem exotic and archaic to outside observers.
The political aspect of the division between "provincial" and "native" science reflects the difference "…between those who believe that reading Western books is more important than reading Russian ones, and those who are convinced of the opposite—a division that roughly runs between Bolotnaya Square and Poklonnaya Hill."
For a long time, the trend toward the globalization of Russian science somewhat alleviated tensions between representatives of the two camps. However, the onset of the war in 2022 marked the beginning of the "native" science's triumph, fueled by the departure of the opposing camp's representatives and the overall de-globalization of Russian higher education and science.
