The article describes some results of an empirical study (June - September, 2019) about the problems of state identity policy. The best Russian experts from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm, Krasnodar, Simferopol and other cities spoke about the systemic problems of the phenomenon of state identity policy and the practice of its implementation in Russia. Transcripts of twenty expert interviews (each lasting from 1 hour to 2 hours) were analyzed using discourse analysis. Experts drew attention to the following important features: the impossibility of its effective combination of the state policy of identity with the "policy of differences"; the impossibility of developing a universal basic matrix of state identity and creating a universal mechanism for the formation of state and civil identity; the impossibility of achieving a single result in the formation of a given identity model; the inevitability of internal inter-elite conflicts and the lack of unity of citizens in relation to state symbols, the history of the state, historical personalities personifying the state; the inevitability of the existence of competing “we - state” images in the mass consciousness; lack of a unified understanding of the essence of state identity policy by project participants and their competition for financial, technical and organizational resources. The state identity policy fulfills important functions of forming the national and civic identity of the population, symbolic association of citizens, and proposing a unified perception of the most significant images of “their” state. It aims to support or challenge the politicized forms of social identity of various social groups. Experts doubt the existence of a well-thought-out state policy of identity in our country. They substantiate their point of view by the inefficiency and insufficiently developed mechanisms for the implementation of bills aimed at the formation of national-state and civil identity of the population.
