STATE REGULATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL AND CIVIL IDENTITY IN UKRAINE: THE CONCEPTUAL DIMENSION
Authors: Balabanov K. , Lysak V. ,   Mariupol State University,   Mariupol State University
Published: October 2023

The main aspects of changing approaches to the state regulation of the implementation of identity policy in Ukraine, aimed at the formation of national and civic identity, are revealed. It was determined that the development and implementation of the identity policy were recognized as priority tasks in the public speeches of the heads of the Ukrainian state, which were aimed at determining the path of the country's further development, respectively, being reflected in the analytical reports of the National Institute of Strategic Studies. The authors claim that a review of the texts of the analytical reports that accompanied the President's Annual Message to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine allows one to assess the degree of importance given to the issues of identity formation of Ukrainians during recent times. These documents are a highly informative source, because, on the one hand, they specify and reveal the content of individual theses of the messages of the highest leadership of the state, and on the other hand, they provide a detailed explanation of the tasks, in the main directions of development, which were set as a goal for the state as a whole. The dynamics of the presentation of the problem of identity formation, proposed at the level of the country's political leadership, are studied. Mechanisms of formation of national identity of Ukrainians proposed in recent years are defined. Innovations regarding the introduction of identity policy in Ukraine, proposed in the law of Ukraine "On the basic principles of state policy in the sphere of establishing Ukrainian national and civil identity" approved in 2022, are being considered. It is noted that one of the results of the adoption of the Law can be considered the approval of a specific terminology in it, which greatly facilitates the process of further theoretical study of the problem field, and contributes to the conduct of more clear and purposeful activities of all actors who can understand the tasks and essence of politics in a similar way. An important part of the adopted law is the outline of the mechanisms through which the processes of formation and consolidation of national and civil identity should take place. The authors come to the conclusion that a certain regulatory and legal basis has been formed, which regulates the processes that allow the state to conduct identity politics. But, due to a number of circumstances, this basis is not clearly structured, certain documents duplicate each other, not all of the planned documents have been approved. The attempt to single out the directions in which the state identity policy should be formed, to develop clear criteria for evaluating this process, to normalize relations between various actors of its development and implementation, can certainly be assessed as a positive step. However, it will be possible to fully evaluate it only after the adoption of the entire complex of the planned array of regulatory and legal acts, in particular, the "Strategy for the establishment of Ukrainian national and civil identity". At the same time, the further actualization of the legal framework for the implementation of state policy, which regulates both the sphere of national and civil identity establishment, as well as the areas related to it, is a task for future development. Keywords: civic identity, political socialization, national identity, identity politics, state policy, political culture.