Decommunization of Ukraine in the context of generation change

Abstract

Ukraine as a sovereign state has been passing a long way of transformations during more than twenty‐five years. Given this reason, a study of the peculiarities, which are distinctive for a number of Ukrainian generations in the context of changing societies under the processes of decommunization, is significant. Considering the concept of «generation» we rely on the «spiritual and historical theory of generations» by Jose Ortega y Gasset, where a «generation» means a specific subject of historical activity dedicated to the political ideas of its time. The decommunization of Ukraine takes place due to the package of «decommunization laws» adopted in May 2015. The older generation of Ukrainians remains the bearer of the Soviet identity certain features, which are manifested in the hope of solving the current issues by the new power or from outside ȋabroad). Іn contrast, the younger generation embodies a new identity, which core is formed by pragmatism, the freedom to choose beliefs and behavior, and nihilistic attitude to the Soviet period legacy. Basically, Ukraine is characterized by the situation of crisis identity associated with a certain impact of regional particularities. The presence of a substantial part of the Soviet identity bearers in the Ukrainian society does not allow completing the decommunization process. For this reason, it could take time or even a complete change of generations for the successful process of decommunization to transform the Soviet identity into Ukrainian one.