POLITICAL SYSTEM OF SOCIETY IN A HYBRID WAR: THE DIRECTION OF TRANSFORMATION Cover Image

ПОЛІТИЧНА СИСТЕМА СУСПІЛЬСТВА В УМОВАХ ГІБРИДНОЇ ВІЙНИ: СПРЯМОВАНІСТЬ ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЙ
POLITICAL SYSTEM OF SOCIETY IN A HYBRID WAR: THE DIRECTION OF TRANSFORMATION

Author(s): Volodymyr Fedorovych Smolianiuk, Krutij Vadym Oleksandrovych
Subject(s): Governance, Government/Political systems, Military policy
Published by: Національний юридичний університет імені Ярослава Мудрого
Keywords: political system of society; political institutions; political norms; political functions; political communications; political consciousness; hybrid war;

Summary/Abstract: Problem setting. Transformational changes in political systems are an essential condition for their development. However, if in a peaceful time, diverse political transformations take place on evolutionary principles, then during the war they are significantly accelerated. The hybrid war has brought new emphasis to the transformation of political systems. Such transformations take place practically throughout the political system, but in order to classify the most important transformations, it is expedient to distinguish its key subsystems - institutional, normative, functional, communicative, spiritual and cultural.Analysis of recent research and publications on the topic. In the works of O. Babkina, V. Bebik, V. Gaponenko, V. Gorbatenko, I. Gorokhovsky, V. Kotygorenko, V. Kafarsky, N. Khoma, I. Kresinoy, A. Kudryachenko, V Masic, Y. Matsievsky, P. Mironenko, M. Mikhalchenko, I. Onischenko, E. Pereguda, T. Poyarkova, M. Primush, O. Romanyuk,F. Rudich, V. Soldatenko, O. Stoiko, T. Tkachenko, G. Zelenko, and other native. The researchers have considered in detail the processes of formation and development of political systems. In the works of O. Demenko, V. Dubov, M. Gonchar, V. Gorbulin,A. Litvinenko, V. Mandrageli, B. Parakhonsky, M. Rozumnyj, L. Smola, M. Trebin,G. Yavorskaya the problems of the hybrid war in the context of determining its essence, content, orientation, purpose, as well as the specifics of deployment and flow. Scientific developments by F. Cappen, F. Hoffman, R. Glenn, R. Newson, J. Sherr reveal the views of Western specialists on hybrid wars. At the same time, studies that examine the transformation of political systems under the influence of the hybrid war in Ukrainian political science is clearly not enough.Paper objective. Indicate the existence of a large number of definitions of the hybrid war, none of which does not claim to epistemological absolute. Analyze the transformational processes in the main subsystems of the political system of society (institutional, normative, functional, communicative, spiritual and cultural) in the context of a hybrid war. Indicate the innovative moments of the development of political systems under the influence of hybrid offensive (defense). Emphasize the special role of the state as the basic political institution on the organization of the vital functions of the political system in the conditions of active hybrid influences of the opposite side (enemy state). Paper main body. A hybrid war affects all subsystems of the political system of society - institutional, normative, functional, communicative, spiritual and cultural (cultural- ideological). However, there is a significant difference in the depth and intensity of such influence.There is a fundamental influence of the hybrid war on the state as the basic political institution of society, which is the main actor of military-political relations. Destruction (weakening) of the enemy state was and remains the goal of any war, including hybrid war. Under these conditions, the state is faced with the need to create versatile variants of the power response to hybrid hazards. As a rule, special government bodies are created with additional powers. There are large-scale institutional transformations within the security and defense sector. For the conduct of hostilities, the forces of reserve are involved. Full or partial mobilization is announced. New parts and connections are deployed. Additional elements of the security and defense sector can be created.There are changes in the regulatory legal subsystem. Orders of the supreme commander- in-chief, directives of the supreme commander-in-chief, decisions of military-civilian administrations, etc. may be added to traditional normative legal acts (laws, decrees, resolutions, decisions, orders). The functional subsystem is also in a state of massive changes. The authorities deliberately urge all patriotic forces to strengthen armed resistance against the aggressor (occupation). Volunteer armed formations, underground structures, local self-defense units, volunteer movements, information resistance, establishment of foreign aid channels, etc. are strongly stimulated. As a result, there is a deetatization of military practice, an active involvement of the general population in defense activities.The communicative subsystem feels no less dynamic changes. Inside the political system there is a rapid selection of political actors based on their attitude to the objectives of the war, the opportunities for participation in it and the ways of working in practical military actions. Subjects expressing doubts about the possibility of victory, and even congratulating the enemy, acquire the status of non-systemic elements, whose activities should be stopped immediately. Their leaders have to face political (criminal) responsibility for anti-state actions.The spiritual and cultural subsystem is connected with the peculiarities of mass political culture, the rational and irrational components of collective and individual political consciousness. The ability of the political system to actively resist the dangers of the hybrid war and to succeed in its consequence is the domination of positive (heroic-patriotic, liberation, victorious) cultural-ideological entities that form the general spiritual uplift of the people. The vulnerability of the political system, which loses the hybrid war and questions the future of the state, society, and nation, leads to the opposite result. Apathy, fatalism, despondency, internal emptiness of a person are a nourishing environment for the formation of a feeling of defeat, which is the goal of a hybrid variety of hostilities on the part of the enemy.The overall impact of the hybrid war on the political system of society is indisputable. The political system, using its adaptive potential, inevitably changes in the structural, functional, communicative, normative, and so on. The direction and intensity of such changes depends on the stability and flexibility of the political system, target orientations and resources of the attacking party, as well as the foreign policy context of the deployment and development of military events.Conclusions. The overall impact of the hybrid war on the political system of society is indisputable. The institutional subsystem of the political system of society in the context of hybrid warfare is characterized by the creation of new military-political authorities, accelerated development of the military organization of the state (security and defense sectors), increased attention to or protection against the infrastructure of information and psychological warfare, as well as deepening of the international military-political partnership. In the normative subsystem there is a dynamic update of legislation on national security and defense, taking into account the needs of the war. The functional subsystem stimulates the qualitative execution of legally defined responsibilities in the field of national security and defense, mobilization of state and social capabilities for military tasks. The communicative subsystem provides the search and formation of new formats of interaction of elements of the political system with each other, with the external environment and with civil society. Changes in the spiritual and cultural subsystem are to intensify the activity of mass media, cultural, artistic and educational institutions on the issues of informational and psychological offensive (defense), as well as the formation of heroic-patriotic, liberation, victorious components of social consciousness capable of ensuring the spiritual uplift of the nation in order to win the war. The focus and intensity of such changes depends on a number of factors, the main of which is the stability of the political system, supplemented by elements of flexibility, target orientations and resources of the attacking party, as well as the foreign policy context of the deployment and development of military events.