Respondent
Theme
Political mobilization as a factor of activation of political participation in Ukraine.
Defence Date
Annotation
Dissertation submitted for the academic degree of candidate of Political Sciences on
the specialty 23.00.02 – Political Institutes and Processes. – Ivan Franko National
University of Lviv, Lviv, 2016.
The thesis is a comprehensive study of the phenomenon of political mobilization,
mobilization factors that caused and predetermined an activation of the political
participation of citizens, competitive and authoritarian manifestations of political
mobilization, and the preconditions for political mobilization of population of Ukraine at
the 2013-2014. It is proved that the political mobilization should be viewed as a
phenomenon which is determined by the institutional political context – the social
environment, the potential of political institutions and political culture.
It is considered approaches to the interpretation of the concept “political
mobilization”. It’s accentuated on the metaphorical sense of political mobilization, which
means setting in active state for accomplishment of certain important task. It is
emphasized the significance of the mobilization in the process of forming of civil stand of
persons, intensification of processes of self organization and activity of citizens, an
overcoming civil apathy in the modern political systems. The political mobilization in its
negative (authoritarian, vertical, forced) and positive (competitive, horizontal, democratic)
contexts is analyzed. It is emphasized on the necessity to avoid a simplistic one-sided
interpretation of political mobilization as an unambiguously negative factor and the
current political situation should be analyzed in the light of the coexistence of vertical and
horizontal displays of mobilization with the increasing of prevalence of the latter one.
It is observed the role of political and cultural factors that determine the direction and
the forms of actions that comes from the mobilization of the political participation of
citizens. It is noted that the particular importance in the study of the mechanisms of
activation of the mobilization of political participation belongs to sources of activity – the
motives and motivations.
It is considered the importance of mobilization actions for intensification of citizens
in the election. It is underlined that nature of political mobilization (its authoritarian or
competition dimensions) changes substantially depending on the social and cultural
context of the political system. It is affirmed that an emotional dominant of electoral
prevails in the electoral practice of Ukraine. An influence of such dominant is impossible
without using of mobilization of manipulative technologies.
It’s analyzed the options of formation of effective civil society in Ukraine, including
its’ mobilizational dimension as ability to concentrate forces and resources for the
implementation of social and political demands of citizens. It’s noted that an events of
2013-2014’s proves the formation of new networks of civil society, uniting the groups of
convinced equal-minded people, who want and know how to obtain changes in the state.
It’s researched the mobilizational potential of civil society in Ukraine on the basis of the
following elements: 1) the mobilization state of human and citizen (internal mobilization,
concentration, and focus on the problem); 2) mobilizing knowledge; 3) readiness to
mobilize; 4) mobilization action.
It’s considered the political fleshmob as a form of political participation which
attracts numerous masses of the population all over the world. It’s affirmed that politmob
is the prime example of competitive (horizontal) political mobilization that is especially
effective in the social and political systems, which are not based on a vertical, hierarchical,
but on horizontal social communications. It’s asserted that politmob can become the
effective and easy (but ambiguous at the same time) method of political mobilization of
citizens, which is aimed at various transformations of the social and political environment.
In the thesis are considered the exogenous and endogenous prerequisites of political
mobilization of the Ukrainian population at the turn of the 2013-2014. It is emphasized on
the necessity of taking into account socio-economic, socio-cultural, communicational and
technological, political and strategic implications of political mobilization in Ukraine. It is
approved another attempt to return to the real construction of direct democracy, the
“unfreezing” of the mass political processes and the civil initiatives in Ukraine.
Keywords: political mobilization, authoritarian mobilization, competitive
mobilization, participatory democracy, mobilization technologies, politmob, civil society,
the Revolution of Dignity.