SOVIET ARCHETYPE IN INTERACTION AUTHORITIES AND POLITICAL OPPOSITION AS THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY OF UKRAINE

Abstract

In the article, in the context of the archetypal approach, were analyzed the peculiarities of the cultural code in the interaction of power and political opposition in the independent Ukraine (1991–2019). It was clarified that the cultural archetype of the Soviet Union has features of a culture of confrontation and conformism-consolidation. And also the coexistence of at least two projections of the Ukrainian past, two antagonistic archetypes, at the present stage in the collective consciousness of Ukrainians.

It is determined that the Soviet archetype manifests itself in the formation of the image of “other” as “alien”/“enemy” using aggressive rhetoric, verbal wars, hanging labels; technologies of administrative resources, mass manipulation, in particular, linguistic issues in Ukraine, intimidation of the electorate of the enemy; the use of information pressure by the authorities to the opposition, sometimes force methods, political repressions — political criminal practices, tactics of ignoring the opposition, unanimous bureaucratic administration, forced methods for the electorate, with imitation of “participation” of citizens in decision-making.

It is revealed that to a greater extent the Soviet archetype is characteristic of the supporters of the communist, socialist ideology, as well as of the part of the political elite, whose world-view principles formed during the Soviet Union, and which represents the electorate with Soviet identity. The first were personified by the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko. The second — the Party of Regions, the Political Party “Opposition Bloc”, “Opposition Platform — For Life”. The Soviet archetype in the interaction of power and political opposition with the attitude of one to one as an enemy dominated from 1991 to 2004, and especially in 2010 — the beginning of 2014. Due to external aggression, the water-turbulence between the authorities and the political opposition since February 2014 has intensified not only ideologically, but also in the national (patriotic) context of “our/patriot — a stranger/separatist/traitor”. Methods of implementing decommunization laws also indicate manifestations of the Soviet archetype.

It is proved that the Soviet archetype in the interaction of power and political opposition manifests itself in conditions of curtailing the democratic regime, social inversion, during election campaigns and in extreme situations. At the same time, the democratization of the regime leads to the transformation of the image of an opponent from the “enemy” to “another” in political discourse, the powerpolitical opposition.

It is substantiated that the existence of two archetypes — genuinely Ukrainian and Soviet — polarizes Ukraine, threatening its civil consolidation and social stability. And also that the Soviet archetype in the interaction of power and political opposition in the conditions of external danger in the world-wide uncertainty of the part of Ukrainian society is a political danger threatening the national security of Ukraine.