Зовнішні дилеми політичної ідентифікації українців

Анотація

The author of the article notes that modern Ukraine is in a state of systemic transformation, the essence of which is to choose between conservative and modernization projects of the formation of Ukrainian statehood. This choice is compounded by the state of the socio-political crisis, military aggression and the weakness of its own geopolitical strategy. The leading factor in overcoming the modern challenges and the formation of a sovereign democratic state is the identification of citizens in public life, their consolidation around a common system of values.

The processes of consolidation of Ukrainian society are clearly reflected in the dynamics of geopolitical priorities, as they serve as a unique marker of the citizens’ position in all the most important issues of political development. Together with their cultural and civilization choice, Ukrainians choose between democracy and authoritarianism, legal protection and corruption, equal cooperation in the international arena and the status of «younger brother». It is Ukraine’s role in the geopolitical environment that is crucial for its foreign policy aimed at forming strategic partnerships and effective protection of sovereignty in the international arena. At the same time, the main function of foreign policy is to compensate for internal problems and create favorable conditions for the realization and protection of national interests.

The study of empirical indexes on the geopolitical orientation of Ukrainians made it possible to determine the main tendencies and peculiarities of the processes of foreign policy identification in modern Ukraine. It is noted that there is a rather active formation of a civil consensus around the Euro-Atlantic civilization’s choice. This is evidenced by an increase in the support of this choice in the national dimension and a marked convergence of regional positions on this issue. The conclusion is drawn about the formation of a stable tendency to strengthen the European integration orientations of Ukrainians. The continuation of military, political and cultural-information aggression of Russia makes the greatest influence on this tendency. The main motives of the European choice of Ukrainians are the desire for material well-being, legal protection and adherence to democratic values.

In most cases, rapprochement with NATO is justified by the aspirations of the country’s security, reliable protection against aggressive actions, first of all, of Russia. In addition, the objective is to modernize the army in accordance with international standards and to increase the international prestige of Ukraine. The idea of Eurasian integration is noticeably losing its popularity, especially in the regions directly confronted with the military aggression of Russia (East and West). The idea of a kind of neutrality, that is, non-alignment with any unions, preserves the considerable support, mainly due to the passage of votes from the camp of opponents of rapprochement with the EU and NATO.

The identified trends in the dynamics of the geopolitical priorities of Ukrainians are largely due to external factors and are still hardly supported by the domestic reforms of the country, as negative things such as corruption, low level of trust in power, slow pace of modernization of socio-economic sphere and low welfare of citizens persist. Under such conditions, the Ukrainian political elite should focus on the creation and implementation of effective strategies for integration and identification of citizens at the expense of real modernization of the economy and raising the standard of living.