INSTITUTIONAL AND VALUABLE BASICS OF REFORMS IN UKRAINE: EUROPEAN CONTEXT

Abstract

The institutional and value bases of the modernization path of development of Ukraine in the European context are analyzed. The reasons for systemic reforms are indicated. In particular, this is the technological backwardness and raw orientation of the Ukrainian economy, the need to ensure sustainable economic growth and the critical state of the social sphere. It is stated that the lack of systemic successful reforms and a vicious populist social policy for decades led to Ukraine becoming one of the poorest European countries. The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union has become an incentive for implementing the necessary reforms and institutional changes in the economy and the social sphere. The implementation of the Agreement means for Ukraine the need to enforce the legal norms of European legislation and the creation of institutional conditions that can ensure economic growth. The institutional, psychosocial and political reasons for the inhibition of reforms are analyzed. In particular, it is proved that one of the obstacles to the success of Ukrainian reforms is the phenomenon of institutional traps. Reformers offer a new system of socio-economic relations, but post-totalitarian institutions, functioning in the old values co-ordinates, do not perceive change. Therefore, the implementation of liberal doctrines leads to negative consequences. An institutional trap is a situation where destructive values and behavior patterns become stable norms of life and make any modernization strategy ineffective. The necessity of creating new macro-political and institutional bases of the state policy of reforms in Ukraine is being proved. The main directions of formation of institutional and value aspects of reform policy are indicated.