SOCIAL POLICY IN THE DISCOURSE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE SNAP ELECTION TO THE VERKHOVNA RADA IN 2014

Abstract

The article describes the political parties' approach to implementing the state's social policy during the snap election to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 2014. A discursive dimension of political parties' activities in the area of social policy was studied. Specific examples have shown political parties as a subject of social policy formation. It was found out that the events of the Revolution of Dignity and the beginning of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine forced Ukrainian politicians to reconsider existing approaches to the formation of party programs. The author analyzed the reflection of social policy in the election programs of the parties that had formed parliamentary groups: «Blok Petra Poroshenka «Solidarnist», «Narodnyi front», Radykalnoi partii Oleha Liashka, «Opozytsiinyi blok», «Obiednannia «Samopomich», «Vseukrainskoho obiednannia «Batkivshchyna». Domestic political events were reflected in the party's discourse on social policy, shifting the priorities in the election programs of political forces in the direction of security policy, improving defense capabilities, and fighting corruption. The main tendencies related to the change of political parties' approaches to forming state social policy are revealed. Dominating the liberal approach to social policy issues in parliamentary parties' programs was aimed at reducing the state's role. At the same time, the speeches of political forces on social policy were mostly full of populist slogans and, in most cases, did not contain any specifics, including ways to solve social problems in society. Trying to get as much electoral support as possible, politicians did not bother to develop real program steps in the social sphere. Instead, the social sphere problems, which had a systemic character, were not solved based on a clear "road map" of actions. The discourse of the political parties participating in the election race, which eventually formed the parliament, did not present a comprehensive program for forming and implementing social policy in the new political environment. Keywords: political parties, social policy, social state, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, political discourse.