UKRAINE'S CIVILIZATIONAL CHOICE THROUGH THE PRISM OF LEGAL VALUES

Abstract

The aim of the research paper is to analyze legal values depending on the civilizational affiliation of society and country, as well as the patterns of Ukraine's civilizational choice in the context of its European integration aspirations. The research methodology is based on the dialectical method, analysis and synthesis, as well as historical, systemic, comparative, and problem-categorical methods. The study introduces a novel perspective by arguing that Ukraine's European choice is both logical and justified, as European legal values resonate with Ukrainian society due to its historical state-legal development. The war has acted as a catalyst for Ukraine's civilizational choice, and legal values play a crucial role in shaping national identity in the face of external aggression. The paper analyzes the distinctive features of Eastern and Western civilizations and their values. The paper identifies several factors influencing the formation of the legal value system in Ukraine: The reception of Roman law, initially through Byzantium and later through Polish-Lithuanian and Austro-Hungarian legal systems. The religious polyphony with the predominance of Eastern Christianity, the national liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people for their own identity and statehood, the existence of the territory of Ukraine as part of different states. These factors determined activism, democratization, development of a national identity, attention to human rights and freedoms in Ukrainian society and their consolidation in historical legal documents and sources. These factors have fostered a receptiveness to modern Western European legal values such as human rights, individual freedoms, and respect for diversity. All this together makes possible the organic perception of modern Western European legal values, such as human and human rights, freedom as a right to free choice, respect for individuality, nation, peace, tolerance, equality, protection from the state.