The article is devoted to the analysis of domestic and foreign discourses, dedicated to civilizational security problems. Since the term «civilizational security» is rather polemical, the author considers the issue on legitimacy of the analyzed concept itself. The main objective of the article is to reveal the difference in the interpretations of this term in domestic and foreign discourses on the basis of barbarism / civilization dichotomy interpretation. The main methodology of the research is a comparative analysis of the last years’ scientific papers. The article determines the difference in approaches to a basic concept «civilization». In the Western interpretation civilization is defined as a high level of society development with all the relevant characteristics, while in the domestic one, it is a victory over barbarism. The difference in «civilization» concept interpretation also influences on the difference in «civilizational security» term interpretation. On the basis of the comparative analysis, there is made a conclusion that civilizational security issue in the Western and domestic scientific discourses have rather significant differences. In the domestic literature, the concept of civilizational security is primarily linked with Russia’s security and has a certain messianic connotation. In the Western literature, it is more detailed and practically oriented, it has close meaning to the concept «security culture».
