Civilizational values of EU countries, Russia, and Ukraine (based on the expert survey)

Abstract

The article discusses the differences between societal values in the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. According to the author's hypothesis, the current Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war is triggered not by interests but by the idea of imposing and maintaining the dominance of certain values. The empirical basis of the research is derived from a poll of experts conducted by the author during the II Kharkiv International Security Forum on November 29–30, 2019. As a part of survey methodology, a group of experts (50 respondents) was asked to assess the importance of societal values from the list (which consisted of 30 positions) in accordance with three locations — the EU countries, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine. A seven-digit ordinal scale (0 to 6) was used for evaluation. The list includes social values that are (or are not) essential for building a certain type of a social system. The findings of the study demonstrate that the top-10 social values in the EU and the Russian Federation are completely different. The EU countries: 1) Rule of Law, 2) Human Rights, 3) Private Property, 4) Democracy, 5) Person as Such, 6) Peaceful Existence, 7) Economic Efficiency, 8) Self-Identity (Me), 9) Liberty, 10) Civil Society. RF: 1) Victory in World War II, 2) National leader, 3) Army, 4) State, 5) Vodka, 6) Social Hierarchy, 7) Ideology, 8) Money, 9) Church, 10) Violence. The Ukrainian society occupies an intermediate position between the European and Russian civilization systems. The top-10 values in Ukraine are: 1) Money, 2) Freedom, 3) Army, 4) Children, 5) Peaceful existence, 6) Family, 7) Land, 8) Democracy, 9) Church, 10) State. The Ukrainian value system has not been fully developed, and the survey revealed that there is a shift of the value system towards the values of the united Europe. The dominant values in the EU countries are humanistic in their principles and create the foundation for the development of civil society. Meanwhile the principal Russian values are focused on strengthening the militarized state and rejection of European tradition by Russian society.