Construction of political and legal reality: theory, methodology, practice

Abstract

The political and legal spheres of society have long been studied separately within political science and legal science. In reality, they are closely interrelated, so for the sake of objectivity and reliability of research results, especially applied ones, these two areas should be considered comprehensively. The need to increase the influence of scientific developments on changing the practice of state formation in a given direction – the establishment of a democratic and legal state – requires the study of real connections between political and legal spheres of society, consideration of political and legal reality as a whole and promotion of research approaches that can strengthen the role of scientists in practice. The aim of this article is to reveal the role of theoretical, methodological and practical potential of social constructivism in the process of changing the political and legal reality, in particular in Ukraine. To achieve this aim, the method of system analysis, observation, modeling method was used. The application of a constructivist approach to the study of political and legal reality and the possibilities of its change indicates that in society it is necessary to form a discourse based on the following important postulates: there is a close connection between policy and law; positive law reflects the state’s strategic policy, not current policy as a struggle for power; policy is formed on the basis of positive law, not on the basis of political expediency. Sign-symbolic interactions should be aimed at constructing political and legal reality, in which the aim of political decisions and legal norms is to ensure socially useful interests, develop ways to eliminate socially harmful phenomena (legal fetishism, imaginary constitutionalism, inflation of law, etc.), there is respect to scientific knowledge.