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Untrusted Political Elites and Citizens: Is It a Contradiction of the Transformation Period Or...? (Ukrainian Case) 5 TETYANA BASINA

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Untrusted Political Elites and Citizens: Is It a Contradiction of the Transformation Period Or...? (Ukrainian Case) 5 TETYANA BASINA Collection of Papers from the 1st PhD Students´ International Conference “my-PhD” Bratislava, Slovak republic April 13.-14. 2007 Conference was organized under the auspices of Mrs. Brigita Schmögnerová, Viceprezident of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Developement, President of Proforum – Progressive Forum No proof reading has been made in this publication. The only changes carried out are in the layout and quotation form of the contributions. Editors: Martin Muránky Jozef Kovalčik Copyright © 2007 Friedrich Ebert Stiftung e. V., Slovakia and contributors of the Collection of Papers from the 1st PhD Students´ International Conference “my-PhD” Friedrich Ebert Stiftung e. V. Maróthyho 6 811 06 Bratislava, Slovak republic Tel. 00421/2/5441 1209 Fax: 00421/2/5441 1641 www.fes.sk ISBN 978 - 80 - 89149 - 12 - 4 EAN 9788089149124 2 Content Untrusted Political Elites and Citizens: is it a contradiction of the transformation period or...? (Ukrainian case) 5 TETYANA BASINA Energy crisis and its impact on policies in the new EU Member States 11 JAROSLAV BIEHUNEK The idea of social justice: the problems and perspectives in globalised Europe 25 ĽUBOŠ BLAHA Specifics of European market - Approach of Intercultural Psychology 35 MONIKA BODOROVÁ Understanding Participation and Action Research: Action Research Methodology as a Tool for Involvement of Stakeholders in Social Research 43 PETER BRONIŠ Happiness and Optimism: the attitudes of post-communist nations of Central Europe 54 RODRIGO BUGUEÑO DROGUETT Social Costs of Structural Changes: Symbolic Processes of Social Exclusion in the Realm of Public Discourse 64 PETER DRÁĽ Surviving strategies for SMEs in economies dominated by multinational companies 89 TAMÁS FÓRIÁN The obstacles of social inclusion of disadvantaged youth: Lithuanian experience in comparison with other EU countries 98 INGRIDA GECIENE The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World – Historical Consequences 106 MARTIN GREŠŠ Ukraine – Possible New Member State of the EU with Post-Transition Economy – and the EU 114 MARIA GRESSOVA The increasing FDI investments of Asian automakers in CEE – new requirements for supply chain, transportation & logistics services 123 HO THI THU HOA Implementation of Reforms and Structural Imbalances of the Slovak Economy 134 MILOŠ HOFREITER Islam in Europe: Banning the Headscarfs 147 MILOŠ HOFREITER 3 A Study of General Trends Found in the Slovak Financial and Bank Sectors as an Indication of Increased Stability of This Sector 157 DANA KISEĽÁKOVÁ The ‘Third Sector’ and its Problems in the Slovak Republic -Challenges and Trends 165 Lisbon Agenda and its Implications for University Education in Europe 175 PETRA LANGEROVÁ EU’s Energy Policy Perspective: Designing a Sustainable Energy System 186 RADOSLAV MIZERA Consuming Post-revolutionary Generation? Re-thinking the Meaning of Logo as a Metaphor of Consumer Lifestyles 195 MICHAELA PYŠŇÁKOVÁ Convergence and Business Cycle Correlation in the EU: An Assessment of the Level of Similarity Reached among the EU Countries 205 DOMENICO RAGUSEO The Dunning model of the FDI implementation in conditions of the Slovak Republic 217 MANUELA RAISOVÁ Korean perspective of Foreign Direct investments in Central and Eastern Europe: Korean automobile industry investments in Slovakia 226 SUNGHEE SONG Role, activities and positions of the EU within the WTO 233 MILAN ŠEBO Encouragement of innovations at regional level 239 MIRIAM ŠEBOVÁ Towards a Post-Secular Europe? 248 TOMÁŠ TATRANSKÝ Post-transition form of state within the EU: creation and impact 261 ĽUBOMÍR TOKÁR Varieties of Capitalism and Late Development: Lessons from Gerschenkron 276 JAKUB WRZESNIEWSKI Idea of Citizenship: Problems of Construction and Interpretation 291 NATALIYA YEREMEYEVA Where do we want the people to stand? The Problem of the Lack of Support in Public Opinion for the EU-membership in Austria 301 KATHARINA ZAHRADNIK Democracy and its defects from the standpoints of pragmatism 306 JURAJ ŽIAK 4 TETYANA BASINA Untrusted Political Elites and Citizens: is it a contradiction of the transformation period or...? (Ukrainian case) Throughout the world, both in Western democracies and post-soviet countries of Eastern Europe, one can observe a decline in political trust. Is this an issue local to any of these countries or a global problem that the modern world faces? What are the factors and processes that influence the political trust? Despite the differences in the level of economical development and maturity of democracy institutions, many countries suffer from the lack of the political trust. In the countries of the West, the decline of the political trust in the society probably reflects a more general decline of respect for the authority that has come with the development of the post-material cultures. As people start to take their well-being for granted, they no longer feel the need to be protected by the state and apparently begin to question and assess their leaders by more demanding standards. In the post-soviet countries a transformation is taking place. New political systems are being installed into these nation-states. In Ukraine the factors which have lead to decrease in political trust are quite different than the other neighboring countries. The purpose of this article is a critical overview of levels of political trust during the independence period. TRUSTING INSTITUTIONS In both post-communist countries and in Ukraine in particular, like in most transforming societies the role of political elites guiding the process of reforms increases. The elite can perform its function only when it has the trust of the people. The results of numerous sociological researches show that the Ukrainian elites have passed the stage of high trust in 1991, when transition to the democratic state was initiated. In the first year of President L. Kravchuk’s term, his power could be called highly legitimate with confidence. But soon the President had to recognize that he had underestimated the importance of the economical problems Ukraine faced. Because of that, a gradual decrease of the level of trust towards to President and government is observed. This process takes the permanent character. It is worth noting that after the presidential elections of 1994 the level of trust to the President increased from 16% to 33% in 1995, which can be described by hopes related to a new leader coming to power. During the 16 years of Ukrainian independence the Prime Minister of the Ukrainian government had been displaced almost every year. Still, it did not help to implement all promised political programs but gave the opportunity for president to be elected twice. Throughout the independence period, the trust in political institutions was very low. Thus we can speak of a crisis of legitimacy of Ukrainian ruling elite. For example, according to Panina,1 in 2004 (before the elections), 13% of respondents trusted the President, 9% the Parliament, 11% the Government, confirming the lower levels of trust registered for the respective institutions during the last ten years.2 1 Panina, Nataliy. (2006). Ukraincke syspilctvo 1992-2006: sociologichnii monitoring. [Ukrainian society 1992-2006: sociology monitoring]. Kiev: Sociology Institute NAS Ukraine. 2 Karklins R. “Typology Of Post-Communist Corruption”, Problems of Post-Communism 49:4 (July/August 2002). 5 Table 1 The dynamics of trust in the Ukrainian President and Government: 1994-2006 Trust in the President Trust in the Government trust do not trust trust do not trust 1994 11% 51% 16% 53% 1998 8% 62% 10% 61% 1999 10% 62% 13% 58% 2002 10% 59% 13% 59% 2004 13% 58% 11% 58% 2006 30% 41% 15% 50% Sources: Panina, 2006: 27. Notes: 5 points scales were used in all cases. Trust includes those giving positive answers (the first two points of the scale), while mistrust includes the last two points (4 and 5). Indecision (“not sure”, the midpoint of the scale) is not included in the table. The decline of the authority of the state and political structures, social institutions in general, mass dissatisfaction with the system of power distribution and other significant social resources led to an increase in social tension. People were dissatisfied with the current economical situation and inability of the government to change it; they also believed that many government officials abused their status for the sake of personal enrichment at the expense of the society. At the same time, people did not see any acceptable alternative, mostly they did not engage in political opposition, but rather assumed the attitude of passive hostility to the political elite, relying only on themselves and family networks. As opposed to ordinary citizens public social representations accuses the political and economic elite of frequently breaking the law, (table 2). An acceptable alternative presented itself at the presidential elections of 2004. The distrust in the then-current political elite and its candidate, prime-minister V. Yanukovich, was one of the major factors contributing to the ultimate victory of the opposition candidate, V. Yushchenko. Currently the new government enjoys a high trust level (over 50%). Many believe that the new political force will be able to quickly improve the economic situation and eliminate corruption. Further evolution of the political trust in Ukraine will depend on how the new government will fulfill this promise. Table 2 Public representations about the measure in which Ukrainian elites respect the law In your opinion in which measure, the following categories More often Hard to More often No respect the law in today Ukraine? respect tell break answer Representatives of legislature (members of Parliament) 4% 33% 63% 0,2% High-ranking officials of ministries 3% 32% 65% 0,3% High-ranking officials of the Presidential 4% 40% 56% 0,6% Administration Ordinary officials 10% 41% 49% 0,2% Entrepreneurs, business people 7% 41% 49% 0,2% Citizens 45% 41% 14% 0,4% Source: Vorona & Shulga, 2003: 600. 6 INVOLEMENT IN MASS PROTEST ACTIONS In the first 13 years of Ukrainian independence (1991-2004) there were very few cases of mass protest actions.
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