The Problem of Defining the Concept of National Development of Ukraine in the Post-war Period

Problem setting. Starting from February 24, 2022, the whole world lives in a new reality – in the conditions of a full-scale war against Ukraine deployed by the Russian Federation. Russia’s military aggression carries through the information and semantic war, which, according to its authors, can justify all atrocities and be their ideological cover. There is a denial of the conceptual definition of the democratic development of social and power relations in Ukraine and their subordination to totalitarianism. That is why the semantic opposition to hybrid warfare is of particular significance as a reflection of all the advantages of civilization over barbarism. In particular, it concerns the determination of the concept of development of Ukrainian society as a theoretical and methodological basis for the formation of legislative norms, organizational imperatives, principled instructions for public servants’ activities, civic world-view focuses.

In this context, the author sets a task – to outline the problem of the need to substantiate the conceptual framework for the modernization of Ukraine in the post-war period.

Paper main body The paper emphasizes that the development of a modern democratic society carries on a conceptually defined framework, scientific substantiation of innovative opportunities, and consideration of social requests for changes. At the same time, it states that the concept of national development of Ukraine has not found a proper theoretical solution and has not received institutional completion in the relevant documents. And in the conditions of the war against the aggression of the Russian Federation with its semantic component, the problem of forming such a concept of development in the post-war period has acquired a specific urgency and requires its determination.

By comparing a concept with a theory and doctrine, the concept defines as a holistic answer to the questions “what is?” and “what to do?”; as an awareness of the subject of his motives and goals, as well as real possibilities of their practical implementation.

The paper outlines the main challenges of the Ukrainian present, which necessitate the achievement of democratic processes, that is, the development of civil society, its initiative, and involvement in innovative changes. In parallel, it shows the significance of tendencies towards strengthening the state.

In this context, the author carries out an analysis of the concept of libertarian paternalism, which, being formed in the economic sphere, may acquire a general social, as well as public managerial meaning. The reasoned conclusion is that this concept requires a critical rethinking by Ukrainian scientists, as well as interdisciplinary discourse on the possibilities of its application in Ukraine.

Conclusions and suggestions concern the need for further theoretical substantiation and institutional approval of the Concept of Development of Ukraine as a methodological basis for the modernization of Ukrainian society. The unprecedented uniqueness of the domestic situation necessitates its interdisciplinary scientific consideration without mechanical borrowing or duplication of other people’s concepts and ideas.