Legitimisation of political regime in post-communist countries: Ways, methods, efficiency

Abstract

The research relevance is determined by the fact that many post-communist countries have faced and continue to face problems in building a sustainable democratic system that would fully meet the needs of society. The research aims to analyse the ways and methods by which political regimes in post-communist countries were legitimised and to determine their effectiveness. To achieve the research objective, the methods of hermeneutics, deduction, analysis, and synthesis were used. The study found that the methods, ways and effectiveness of legitimisation of political regimes in Ukraine and Kazakhstan differ from each other, although they began their development at the same time (1991) and on the same basis (the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Poland, after the overthrow of the communist regime in 1989, embarked on the path of developing democratic institutions and civic engagement. In Ukraine, the way to legitimise the political regime was through democratic elections and transparency, and in Kazakhstan ̶ through economic development and propaganda. The effectiveness of the methods within the chosen paths resulted in the following democracy indices for the countries: Ukraine ̶ 5.42 (hybrid regime), Poland ̶ 7.04 (imperfect democracy), Kazakhstan ̶ 3.08 (authoritarian regime). In other words, all three countries are at different levels of development, depending on the analysed issues, with Poland being the best positioned. Therefore, it can be concluded that countries need to improve the legitimation of the political regime on the way to full democracy. The practical significance of this study is that the findings of the study are useful for policymakers, researchers and the public interested in the processes of democracy and legitimisation in the post-communist context