“The Revolution of Dignity" in Ukraine in the Context of Civilizational Choice

Introduction. The actuality of the declared topic is due to the search for a way out of the protracted crisis in Ukrainian society and Russian-Ukrainian relations. The purpose of the paper is a theoretical understanding of the civilizational choice of citizens of Ukraine during the “revolution of dignity”.

Methodology and sources. When studying this topic, the author relies on the civilizational and formational approaches recognized in sociology and other humanities that explain the development of societies and states. In addition, the events of 2014 are interpreted taking into account the theory of revolutions. Herewith, the author addresses both theories developed long before the “revolution of dignity” in Ukraine, as well as contemporary Russian and foreign authors who are exploring this problem. The author focuses on the result of this process, considers the next “colour revolution“ in Ukraine as a stage in determining the civilizational future of Ukraine, as a “civilizational revolution“.

Results and discussion. In the scientific community, the signs of the “classical revolution“ are usually understood by the authors quite clearly, although not without exception. The author provides definitions and interpretations of the category of “revolution”, which are widely used at present to explain the revolutionary social upheavals of the late XX – early XXI century. The general and special in the above interpretations are analyzed to explain the Ukrainian events of 2014. In addition, the provisions of the civilizational approach of the theory of states are extrapolated to the Ukrainian events of 2014 in order to determine their social significance and character.

Conclusion. The concept of “civilizational revolution“ is currently quite vague and ambiguous. It is proposed to interpret the events of 2014 in Ukraine as a “civilizational revolution” in the context of the civilizational approach of the typology of states. Currently, the most acute stage is observed, accompanied by the loss of territory, armed conflict between supporters of the Western development vector and the Russian or Slavic vector.

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