Khodakivskyi Myhailo. On the issue of postmodern basics of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine
Occupation and annexation of the Crimea, the events in certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions in 2014–2015 got the name «armed aggression of Russian Federation» in Ukrainian socio-political opinion. This definition is based and used both among experts and in political and legal documents.
The article tries to comprehend Russian aggression from the point of its belonging to postmodern discourse. A lot of scholars and journalists while describing modern Russia bind it to postmodernism. In academic and publicistic literature, we can find the definition of Russia as a «postmodern dictatorship», «postmodern democratic empire» and so on. In accordance, all the store of means used by Russia in Ukraine are sometimes called postmodern politics or applied postmodernism.
To examine this hypothesis we should clarify the term «postmodernism» in general and in political life in particular. Postmodernism is a certain theoretical reflexion, theoretical level of the analysis of postmodern culture, which is displayed in some conceptual structures and philosophical theories. As Lyotard wrote, any rules and principles which claims to be true, common and permanent has become unacceptable for postmodernism.
The essentials of classical political science are principles of society systemacy, availability of basic social laws, using of quantitative research methods and so on. On the contrary, postmodernists propose to use different principles and denominations of social science, which are used by Physics, Cybernetics, Synergetic and other natural sciences.
Crash of all great ideas, ideals and values of modernist epoch has become the main fact of Postmodernism. Not any concept can become dominant in Postmodernism since there are not any common mandatory rules. Postmodernism constitutes pluralism, equality of positions.
In the postmodernists’ opinion the same social actions and facts can have different meanings, and different human societies give different significance.
So, in the world outlook, Postmodernism establishes pluralistic paradigm, proclaims the principle of plurality of cultural space, priority of a person, autonomy structures, identity. In political life there is a growth of cultural and political diversity, expansion of political values of postmodernism; problems of identity in politics and political management, the role of a person in politics, development of lower political structures are taken into consideration.
The analysis of manifestations of Russian armed aggression let us conclude that they are not postmodern but just lying. One of the classics of postmodernism Michel Foucault said that it’s not worth to start a debate original point of which is a lie. Postmodernists have broad views on the fundamental problems of social life. But they have never been liars. A lie can’t become a foundation of scientific analysis and an instrument of scientific cognition.
Russian armed aggression against Ukraine is completely modern project, which have direct similarity to analogous events in European history of the XX century with the assistance of USSR and Germany. Every specific element of this aggression is not new and was used in nearly all the wars in the past. But coordination and correlation of these elements, their dynamical and flexible usage, the growth of weight of the information factor are unique.
Moreover, sometimes, the information factor has become an independent component; and it has been proved to be more important than the military factor. Anyway, there are not any reasons to assume that the amount of these elements create a new postmodern quality.
Key words: postmodernism, armed Russian agression.
