Information on the thesis

Dissertation submitted for the academic degree of candidate of Political Sciences on
the  specialty  23.00.02  –  Political  Institutes  and  Processes.  –  Ivan  Franko  National
University of Lviv, Lviv, 2016.
The  thesis  is  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  phenomenon  of  political  mobilization,
mobilization  factors  that  caused  and  predetermined  an  activation  of  the  political
participation  of  citizens,  competitive  and  authoritarian  manifestations  of  political
mobilization, and the preconditions for political mobilization of population of Ukraine at
the  2013-2014.  It  is  proved  that  the  political  mobilization  should  be  viewed  as  a
phenomenon  which  is  determined  by  the  institutional  political  context  –  the  social
environment, the potential of political institutions and political culture.
It  is  considered  approaches  to  the  interpretation  of  the  concept  “political
mobilization”. It’s accentuated on the metaphorical sense of political mobilization, which
means  setting  in  active  state  for  accomplishment  of  certain  important  task.  It  is
emphasized the significance of the mobilization in the process of forming of civil stand of
persons,  intensification  of  processes  of  self  organization  and  activity  of  citizens,  an
overcoming civil apathy in the modern political systems. The political mobilization in its
negative (authoritarian, vertical, forced) and positive (competitive, horizontal, democratic)
contexts  is  analyzed.  It  is  emphasized  on  the  necessity  to  avoid  a  simplistic  one-sided
interpretation  of  political  mobilization  as  an  unambiguously  negative  factor  and  the
current political situation should be analyzed in the light of the coexistence of vertical and
horizontal displays of mobilization with the increasing of prevalence of the latter one.
It is observed the role of political and cultural factors that determine the direction and
the  forms  of  actions  that  comes  from  the  mobilization  of  the  political  participation  of
citizens.  It  is  noted  that  the  particular  importance  in  the  study  of  the  mechanisms  of
activation of the mobilization of political participation belongs to sources of activity – the
motives and motivations.
It is considered the importance of mobilization actions for intensification of citizens
in  the  election.  It is underlined that  nature  of  political  mobilization  (its authoritarian or
competition  dimensions)  changes  substantially  depending  on  the  social  and  cultural
context  of  the  political  system.  It  is  affirmed  that  an  emotional  dominant  of  electoral
prevails in the electoral practice of Ukraine. An influence of such dominant is impossible
without using of mobilization of manipulative technologies.
It’s analyzed the options of formation of effective civil society in Ukraine, including
its’  mobilizational  dimension  as  ability  to  concentrate  forces  and  resources  for  the
implementation  of  social  and  political  demands  of  citizens.  It’s  noted  that  an  events  of
2013-2014’s proves the formation of new networks of civil society, uniting the groups of
convinced equal-minded people, who want and know how to obtain changes in the state.
It’s researched the mobilizational potential of civil society in Ukraine on the basis of the
following elements: 1) the mobilization state of human and citizen (internal mobilization,
concentration,  and  focus  on  the  problem);  2)  mobilizing  knowledge;  3)  readiness  to
mobilize; 4) mobilization action.
It’s  considered  the  political  fleshmob  as  a  form  of  political  participation  which
attracts numerous masses of the population all over the world. It’s affirmed that politmob
is the prime example of competitive (horizontal) political mobilization that is especially
effective in the social and political systems, which are not based on a vertical, hierarchical,
but  on  horizontal  social  communications.  It’s  asserted  that  politmob  can  become  the
effective and easy (but ambiguous at the same time) method of political mobilization of
citizens, which is aimed at various transformations of the social and political environment.
In the thesis are considered the exogenous and endogenous prerequisites of political
mobilization of the Ukrainian population at the turn of the 2013-2014. It is emphasized on
the necessity of taking into account socio-economic, socio-cultural, communicational and
technological, political and strategic implications of political mobilization in Ukraine. It is
approved  another  attempt  to  return  to  the  real  construction  of  direct  democracy,  the
“unfreezing” of the mass political processes and the civil initiatives in Ukraine.
Keywords:  political  mobilization,  authoritarian  mobilization,  competitive
mobilization, participatory democracy, mobilization technologies, politmob, civil society,
the Revolution of Dignity.