Information on the thesis

A dissertation submitted for the degree of Candidate of Political Sciences in the specialty 23.00.02 – Political Institutions and Processes. – Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, 2021.

The thesis analyses the impact of modern trends in party systems development of the European Union countries on the evolution and functioning of the party system of Ukraine. European and global trends in the development of political parties and party systems are described.

The main global trends in the political parties development include: the crisis of the “mainstream” as a policy of governing states, which was formed on the basis of synthesising basic ideological doctrines (liberalism, conservatism, social democracy); the crisis of traditional parties, bipartisanship and the very left-right matrix of ideological coordinates; the emergence of new types of socio-political distinctions which resulted in the emergence of new types of parties: “green”, right-wing radical, network, “new policy parties”; exacerbation of the split on European integration and a significant increase in Euroscepticism, which was given additional impetus by the migration crisis and competition among world superpowers; virtualization of politics and the emergence of new types of mass communication (for example, social networks), which are poorly controlled and allow alternative movements to communicate with citizens; anti-globalism and the conflict of “elites and the masses” caused by the existence of a significant number of citizens who have lost from globalization.

It is stated that at present the party landscape of the European Union countries is formed by: 1) European parties; 2) national political parties; 3) regional parties of individual states; 4) ethnic minority parties; 5) unregistered European parties.

The 2017–2019 parliamentary elections in the EU countries are studied and it is argued that the main characteristic of the election campaigns was the confrontation between “mainstream” parties and “new politics” parties.

The main stages of development and factors influencing the evolution of the party system of Ukraine are described. The influence of the 2019-2020 electoral cycle on the actors’ structure and configuration of the domestic party system is studied. It is noted that the 2019 parliamentary elections showed a new trend in party life – its virtualization, and the 2020 local elections, which took place under conditions of completing the next stage of decentralization, demonstrated the success of regional parties and the functioning of national parties at the local level as electoral franchises.

It is emphasized that the main European trends in party formation, which are implemented in the Ukrainian society are as follows: 1) “reformatting” of parties, which is caused by a complex set of social and socio-economic realia in the context of the information society making; b) the main models of political parties that operate in the EU, and which are beginning to be introduced in the domestic political practice are the following: two-tier political parties, network / digital parties, “new politics” parties, new populist parties that emerge in the run-up to the coming elections and basically cease to exist just as quickly, regional political parties (creation of party networks of regional and local significance); c) an important role in the spread of network models of parties was played by the change in the nature of socio-political distinctions. New social conflicts are not permanent and complex, they are more localized and fragmented; d) the instrumental nature of the party-citizen relationship; e) de-ideologization of party life, the convergence of party programs and ideologies; g) digitalization of political life.

It is proved that all these tendencies can be traced in the Ukrainian party genesis, but are corrected by the specific features of the domestic democratic transit and socio-cultural characteristics of the Ukrainian society.

Key words: the European Union, Ukraine, party systems of the European Union, party system of Ukraine, parliamentary elections, local elections, parties of “new policy”, “mainstream” parties, network parties.