Політичні дослідження (Apr 2022)

Civic education as a factor in overcoming absenteeism in Ukraine

  • Oleksandr Kornievskyy,
  • Yevgen Pereguda,
  • Dmytro Havryliuk

DOI
https://doi.org/10.53317/2786-4774-2022-1-5
Journal volume & issue
no. 3
pp. 99 – 120

Abstract

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This publication examines the features of the manifestations of political absenteeism and public activism in Ukrainian society. The phenomenon, causes of political absenteeism and its impact on the socio-political life in Ukraine are studied, as well as the ways to reduce absenteeism tendencies in our society are identified. Particular attention is placed on the spread of political absenteeism among young people and other age groups, which led to low turnout in the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019 and the lowest turnout for the entire history of Ukraine in local elections in October 2020. It is shown that the introduction of foreign experience in overcoming of political absenteeism will allow to identify effective ways to reduce this phenomenon in Ukrainian society. The authors also study the phenomenon of public activism. It is noted that it gained special momentum during the Euromaidan, when political activity of citizens increased sharply against the background of total corruption in all branches of government, accompanied by a backdown from European integration course, the collapse of the army against the background of strengthening law enforcement agencies. The occupation of Crimea and Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine led to the development of volunteer battalions and volunteer movements. The authors note that in recent years the activity of citizens has focused primarily on solving pressing problems of local importance, in particular on combating illegal construction, protecting entrepreneurs from the arbitrariness of local authorities. To support the development of civic activism in Ukraine, different educational projects, online courses, trainings etc were organized. The state of public activism in Ukraine is analyzed, in particular — at the local level, aimed at establishing a real civil society, strengthening the influence of local communities to solve local problems, offers ways to improve the political culture of citizens.

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