The main subject of the article is the ideology of the European universalism, which is interpreted by the author as the ideology of democracy and human rights. In the first part of the paper the inner function of this ideology is interpreted. This function consists on the legitimisation of western socio-political system. According to the author this ideology directly legitimizes western socio-political system, and only indirectly capitalism as an economical system which coexists with the democratic state. In the second part of the paper the external function of the European universalism – that is the legitimization of the western imperialism. The author of the article differentiates the inner form of the ideology (that is the ideas embedded in the consciousness/subconsciousness of people), the political doctrine of the ideology (that is what is spoken by the politicians) and its academic discourse.