State Cultural Policy as an Element of National Security Policy: Experience of Ukraine in 2014-2022

Abstract

The article is devoted to determining the role and place of state cultural policy in the national security system in the context of the Ukrainian post-revolutionary experience. The analysis of the modern understanding of state cultural regulation in the security sphere demonstrates the multifaceted and multidimensional nature of the cultural resource in protecting the interests of the state and society. The historical conditions in which Ukraine found itself, of course, pose a challenge in building the doctrinal and practical principles of national security, require flexibility and timeliness in response to new threats and challenges.Nevertheless, the search for points of contact between the cultural and security policy of the state, both in the supporting legal documents and in the development of specific mechanisms, remains an open question. The article emphasizes that an adequate and effective cultural policy is one of the foundations of the consolidation of society, the reconciliation of conflicting population groups, and the restoration of dialogue at the national level. The importance of cultural policy is also indicated in the context of the destructive influence of globalization processes on the preservation and development of national culture. Russia’s war against Ukraine, which is characterized by the intensification of the informational and ideological component and the use of cultural and mental aggression, leads to the actualization of the issue of protecting the state’s cultural space. With this in mind, the article deals with the determining of the place of the state cultural policy in the main security documents of Ukraine and the role of the main state institutions in the field of culture. The article pays special attention to the analysis of modern Ukrainian soft power in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which made it possible to see its main advantages and also suggest ways to strengthen it. The study also attempts to single out the main challenges and unresolved problems of the state cultural policy within the framework of protecting the security interests of the Ukrainian state and society, and also suggests key mechanisms for solving and overcoming them.