Екологічна парадигма українського державотворення: політична стратегія суспільних змін

Abstract

У дисертації здійснено філософську концептуалізацію феномену екологічної політики в умовах сучасних трансформаційних процесів. Всебічно аналізується феномен екологічної політики як об’єкт державної політики. Виявлено, що формування національної екологічної політики потребує концептуально-теоретичного дискурсивного охоплення світоглядно-філософської, політологічної, соціально-економічної, екологічно-правової проблематики, а також детального аналізу демократизаційних трансформацій, що відбуваються в українському суспільстві. Актуальність дослідження полягає саме в тому, що тільки із нового визначення категорії «екологічна політика» можуть розпочатися дійсно позитивні процеси в цій сфері. Проаналізовано роль середньої і вищої освіти у формуванні екологічної культури особистості і суспільства. Доведено необхідність активізації процесів реформування та модернізації вітчизняної освітньої системи в

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цілому. Визначено, що перед системою освіти постає актуальне завдання, що полягає в необхідності виховувати екологоорієнтовану особистість, критична кількість яких в майбутньому зможуть змінити ту катастрофічну ситуацію, що склалася в Україні з точки зору екологічної безпеки. Philosophical conceptualization of the phenomenon of environmental policy in the context of contemporary transformation processes is presented in the thesis. The phenomenon of environmental policy as an object of public policy has been comprehensively analyzed. It has been revealed that formation of national environmental policy requires conceptually-theoretical discursive coverage of world-philosophical, political, social and economic, environmental and legal issues, as well as a detailed analysis of democratization transformations taking place in Ukrainian society. The key principles, settings, short-term and strategic goals of environmental policy as well as basic tools and principles for achieving them have already been elaborated in developed democracies. And despite the fact that since the first years of independence of Ukraine environmental issues have been very acute, they were gradually forced out to the periphery of political discourse. The relevance of our research lies in the fact that only with a new definition of "environmental policy" category truly positive processes in this field can begin. While the environmental component of Ukrainian politics occupies secondary priorities and is resolved on a residual principle, the environmental crisis that has already become catastrophic in our country will only deepen, and the life quality of our citizens will continue to deteriorate. The general conceptual approaches to the elaboration of Ukraine's environmental policy strategy have been highlighted. It has been demonstrated, that various concepts, laws, recommendations and proposals have been actively created and developed by public organizations in our country. At the same time, active declarative and advisory activity has not resulted in forming a coherent and systematic environmental policy. There are some reasons for this. Unrelated and ineffective from a monitoring and control perspective laws have been adopted in the sphere of legislation. Government concepts were overly generalized and abstract, and NGOs did not operate sufficiently effectively because of many administrative obstacles. This situation makes our study even more topical, as it gives a detailed analysis of issues related to the need to develop, introduce and systematically implement a coherent and purposeful national environmental policy, which would balance the efforts of all interested parties: the state, citizens, public organizations, manufacturers and consumers. We have conducted a comparative analysis of the environmental programs of the leading countries of the world in their significance for Ukraine and defined several directions in which our national environmental policy should make a real breakthrough. First of all, significant efforts should be made to increase environmental literacy, culture and public awareness. It is the citizens of the leading democratic countries who are the most powerful source of activity aimed at protecting their rights to a clean environment and the rational use of natural resources. In addition, management mechanisms should be constantly expanded by delegating a significant amount of authority to NGOs. A positive example here would be the practice of EU countries, where national legislation gradually approximated with the European standards, and interaction of the state, the public and the supranational European structures allows them to achieve significant positive results. Our analysis has shown that experience of Poland as a country that was in a socialist camp and then pursued economic and political reforms taking into account the environmental factor can be actively used as an example for Ukraine. In Ukraine, unfortunately, most of the reforms are being carried out without consideration of this component, or with shifting environmental issues to secondary positions. This situation needs to be changed as soon as possible. Therefore, our research aims to find the way of changing this situation, which makes up its theoretical, methodological, scientific and practical relevance. The current legislation of Ukraine in the field of environmental protection is analyzed. It is noted that it has a sufficiently branched structure that covers both the constitutional regulation of citizens rights and responsibilities, as well as sectoral legislative acts. Most of them, however, were adopted in the 90s of the last century. Over the last decade, the development of environmental legislation has been significantly impeded and limited, in the main, by ratification of international conventions. In 2010, a powerful piece of legislation was adopted that approved the Fundamental Principles (Strategy) of Ukraine's State Environmental Policy for the period up to 2020. Its importance lies in the fact that “environmental policy” became a key legal category in it. At the same time, it can be argued that this law, without formulating specific mechanisms of implementation and control, became another state-level declaration. Environmental law professionals are constantly emphasizing the need to codify environmental legislation and bring it into line with European norms and standards. However, the corruption of the Ukrainian political, economic, industrial elite does not imply adoption of legislation that could, to one degree or another, put an end to abuse in a certain area, in particular in the field of environmental protection and resource use. It has been proven that in Ukraine environmental responsibility is one of the most pressing problems that has plagued our society. Irresponsibility reigns at all levels: political, bureaucratic, industrial, municipal, etc. However, the most frightening thing is that the citizens in their majority have a very low level of ecological culture and consciousness. This means that for quite some time the politicians will not be entrusted with the task to create an effective environmental policy of the European model in the country. Our society needs a strong environmental education movement so that at least the next generations can correct the mistakes that are being made now. For the time being, corruption is continuing to dominate in the areas of environmental protection and resource use. Concepts and main components of society and personality ecological culture are defined. The multidimensionality of this phenomenon, which combines phenomenological and axiological, individual and personal, daily and household, social and functional, economic and consumer, political and public, state and administrative elements is proved. By its very nature, ecological culture is focused on several essential priorities, namely economical attitude to the environment and resource base, striving for preservation of health, quality of life, gene pool of individuals and societies, in order to ensure sustainable social and economic development of the community, region, country and humanity. Thus, the study has proved the ontological and formal integrity of the category and phenomenon of ecological culture. Today, it is a single factor that binds individuals with society, voters with political parties, citizens with the state, and so on. And this is just a political and integrative dimension of environmental culture. In the psychological and pedagogical understanding of the phenomenon it is important to emphasize the combination of information and cognitive, activity and practical, value and motivational, emotional and psychological, aesthetic and taste components. All this must be taken into account when building a new innovative and humanistic system of state and public upbringing and education in Ukraine. Meantime, we must acknowledge the considerable backwardness of our citizens in terms of personal and social ecological culture as compared to the corresponding indicators that are characteristic of the citizens of developed western countries. Formation of ecological culture as a state, social and public political task has been substantiated and the key directions of its implementation in modern Ukrainian social and political realities have been determined. First of all, the necessity of intensifying public administration and reform efforts in the educational sphere, on the basis of which education and training will become truly environmentally oriented, has been proved. Environmental issues can be an integral factor in the transformation of educational strategies into holistic and continuous complexes. The great role of non-formal environmental education and upbringing in developed countries has also been emphasized. In Ukraine, this tool is not used extensively. Finally, there is a direct link between the level of environmental culture of the population and the level of civic awareness, education and initiative. Only real citizens, who know how and are able to assert their own rights, are capable of protecting every human right to a clean environment, necessary to ensure a decent standard of living and health. Thus, formation of a European-level environmental culture is an extremely difficult task for Ukraine, which can only be accomplished in close cooperation and with the strong involvement of the state and civil society.