UNITY OF THE HUMANITARIAN SPACE OF THE STATE: IDENTIFICATION OF COMPONENTS AND MECHANISMS OF FORMATION
Authors:   Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine, OPANASHCHUK Petro 
Published: February 2025

Background . The current stage of Ukraine's development is characterized by significant changes affecting various spheres of public life. A significant part of these changes is due to the processes of globalization and European integration. The events of the Russian-Ukrainian war are also a significant factor in social transformations. In these conditions, increasing the resilience of society to new challenges, guaranteeing the safety of people, society and the state in general is of particular importance. It is emphasized that in the field of domestic humanitarian development, the problems of inequality and excessive polarization of society along linguistic, ethnic, religious and other types of characteristics have accumulated for a long time and still remain insufficiently resolved. This often becomes a source of aggravation and strengthening of contradictions in many spheres of society's life. Such components of humanitarian policy as the development of education, science, culture, harmonization of inter-confessional and ethno-national relations, etc. form the basis for further increasing the level of human capital and strengthen social cohesion in general. This leads to the need to find effective mechanisms for improving the quality of state administration in the humanitarian sphere and ways to ensure the consolidation of society on the basis of universally recognized value orientations, because the normal life of the population and the sustainable functioning of social institutions, as well as the observance of rights and freedoms regardless from race and gender, ethnicity, language and religion.

Methods . In the process of research, the method of theoretical analysis of scientific sources was used, as well as the method of comparison, which made it possible to study the available scientific approaches to solving the outlined problem. In order to reveal the essence of the categories "humanitarian space" and "unity of humanitarian space", the methods of generalization, formalization, analysis and synthesis were used. Other general scientific and special methods of cognition were also used, including abstraction, concretization, induction, and systematization. This made it possible to substantiate the structural components that underlie the category "unity of the humanitarian space". In order to formulate the general conclusions of the study, the method of logical generalization of the results was used.

Results . The analysis of domestic and foreign historiography has led to the conclusion that there is no unified approach to defining the category of humanitarian space. It was established that in foreign practice, the view of the humanitarian space as a kind of humanitarian working environment, in which humanitarian organizations can carry out their activities to provide assistance to people in regions affected by negative factors of various origins, dominates. Among domestic scientists, views on the humanitarian space as an environment based on a system of ideas, values, ideals, myths, stereotypes and images that influence people's consciousness prevail. It is justified that the unity of the humanitarian space should be considered the degree of cohesion of society around such socially significant topics as the attitude to language, religious freedoms, ethno-national relations, cultural development, historical memory and other manifestations of social existence that form national identity, as well as the ability on the basis of existing mechanisms, effectively and constructively resolve contradictions that may arise from time to time in these spheres of social relations. The components that underlie the unity of the humanitarian space have been identified, namely: a harmonious language environment, development of the educational sector, preservation of the national cultural heritage and historical memory, consideration of the rights and satisfaction of the needs of national minorities (communities), harmonization of state-church and inter-confessional relations. It has been established that an important role in the formation of a coherent humanitarian space is also played by the satisfaction of the informational and cultural needs of society, which should occur thanks to the national producers of cultural products and the functioning of the network of national channels of cultural communication.

Conclusions . It has been proven that the formation of integral humanitarian space creates the preconditions for further strengthening of social cohesion, which is critically important in the conditions of the transformations that Ukraine is undergoing at the current stage of integration into European cultural, economic and political structures. Signs of a holistic humanitarian space are the presence of a developed common symbolic system, the crucial role of national producers of cultural products and national channels of cultural communication in meeting the informational and cultural needs of society, a high level of social cohesion based of common cultural and ideological values that have a national character, harmonious development of interethnic and interfaith relations, etc.

The presence among the components of the humanitarian space of such elements as historical memory, own culture, traditions, and a unique linguistic environment turn it into one of the fundamental factors that influence the formation of national identity, that is, contribute to a person's permanent awareness of belonging to the Ukrainian nation as an original community, united by name, symbols, geographical and ethno-social origin, historical memory, a complex of spiritual and cultural values, in particular the Ukrainian language and folk traditions.