Ukrainian Regional Political Elite: Formation and Transformation of Identities and Values (A Case Study of Ivano-Frankivsk Region)

Abstract

The article analyzes key factors facilitating the formation of diverse identities and values of the regional political elite at the stage of the establishment of Ukrainian state, as well as identifies the direction of their future transformation, including sociocultural and mental characteristics of the society, the phenomenon of the historical memory, the level of the development of socioeconomic relations, political regime, the level of the region’s and local best class’ integration into common national political processes. The analysis of the axiological characteristics of the main groups of political elite of the region (representatives of state authorities, deputies, party functionaries, entrepreneurs) allows to confirm the existence of a consensus inside Ivano-Frankivsk regional elite regarding the priority of state independence of Ukraine, that of democracy and liberal freedom, market relations, European vector of state development, formation of the civil society. At the same time, the highly dynamic level of correcting and changing political identities and value orientations, which were, as a rule, situation driven and caused mostly by external factors, points out that the “value portrait” of Ivano-Frankivsk regional political elite remains vague and not finalized.