The role of civil society in the design of public policy in Ukraine

Abstract

The process of institutionalization of civil society in Ukraine as one of the main actors in the public field of politics has its own specific features that affect the quality of public capital and the state of the political system.

The crises in the political system of Ukraine, which led to a change of government, a surge in civic activity and the emergence of new forms of interaction between public actors, raised the issue of analysis and monitoring of the civil sector in the country and determining its role in public policy.

The process of institutionalization of civil society in the Ukrainian public sphere takes place in close cooperation with state institutions, which are also structurally and functionally changing, losing traditional

functions and succumbing to innovations. Institutional transformations trigger mechanisms of change in the system of actor relations and form new practices of cooperation. Complex and fragmented interactions of state and non-state institutions (new and reforming) of public policy create a multitude of network practices of cooperation and form the public capital of the modern political system of Ukraine.

The formation of a new model of public policy in Ukraine on the trajectory of "bottom – up" (civil society institutions) is in line with global trends of change of institutions and practices of interaction of actors in political processes, but has significant features and difficulties. The uniqueness of the Ukrainian version is that civil society is faster and more effectively institutionalized as a public actor than a state that does not "have time" to institutionally adapt to change and due to the limited tradition of the previous governance model inhibits public sector participation in political life.