Політична свідомість словацького суспільства в умовах демократичної трансформації: проблемні аспекти сприйняття змін

Abstract

Klyuchkovych Anatoliy. Political consciousness of Slovak society in the conditions of democratic transformation: problematic aspects of perception of changes. In terms of the establishment of democratic political consciousness of Ukrainian society, the study of foreign experience of value transformations is relevant. The aim of the article is to explore the political consciousness of Slovak society, in particular the development of value orientations and the perception of changes by citizens in the conditions of democratic transformation. The author uses normative-value, comparative, structural-functional methods to study the components of political consciousness, the content of the dominant value orientations and their influence on the citizens’ perception of transformational processes. It was found out that post-socialist transformation of political consciousness of Slovak society is characterized by contradictory features. Political consciousness includes implemented and unrealized expectations, positive and negative assessments of transformations, optimistic and pessimistic attitudes towards modern state development. In modern conditions the democratic transformation of Slovakia is generally appreciated by the citizens. The processes of democratization and state-building enriched the mass consciousness in understanding the principles of the functioning of democracy, freedom, competition, pluralism in the Slovak Republic. At the same time, public opinion perceives the deterioration of social guarantees as a result of transformational processes. In Slovakia, priority is given to the principle of social justice as an important aspect of democracy. It is concluded that Slovak citizens critically evaluate the ways of implementing systemic changes by politicians. As a result, it has an impact on public confidence in the government, relation to the functioning of democracy, assessment of one’s own possibilities of influence on political decisions.