Regional political parties in the context of the study of the process of nationalization (based on the results of the local elections in 2015)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the characteristics and typology of regional political parties in Ukraine, the assessment of the connection of the nationalization of the party system of Ukraine, the deviance (non-typology) of electoral behavior of the regions with the development of regional parties in the state by the results of local elections in 2015.In the course of the study, the main scientific approaches to the characterization and typology of regional parties in Ukraine were considered. It has been established that scholars identify the following categories of regional political parties, namely: ideological parties, political parties-projects of prominent personalities, ethnic parties, administrative parties (pro-government political parties). It is proposed to expand existing typology by introducing such categories of regional parties as projects of local elites, regional parties oriented on pro-Russian politics in Ukraine, technical political parties, which are beginning active activities before the elections, helping to ensure passing to local bodies of self-government to certain persons. It was found that regional political parties, based on the results of the local elections in Ukraine in 2015, were two pro-Russian political forces, four parties that focused on supporting the interests of local elites and one ethnic party. It is noted that the support of regional political parties is low. This is confirmed by the results of the electoral vote at the national level. It was noted that against the backdrop of a high level of nationalization of the party system for the period of 2014–2015, calculated on three approaches (the nationalization index was calculated according to the approach of M. Johns and S. Meinwering, G. Holosov and author’s modified approach), these parties did not have significant influence on the electoral picture of the country. It is also determined that since the third author’s modified approach allows to take into account the results of elections to local self-government bodies, it is relevant for the study of regional parties. Therefore, its use is most optimal for similar analytical purposes.Among the factors that had the greatest influence on party nationalization over the period of 2014–2015 were the electoral system, the transformational factors in the socio-political space, the change in the form of government, decentralization (de-volition) associated with the reform of local self-government and the territorial organization of power in Ukraine Accordingly, it has been proved that the latter of these factors has become an important prerequisite for the emergence of new regional political parties at the local elections of 2015.