Determinants of citizens' attitude to the Ukrainian government: a sociological analysis

Abstract

The article considers the perception of citizens of the government of Ukraine depending on the institutional forms of its formation. Citizens 'attitudes toward government are individuals' reactions to government policies and the activities of its leaders. The formation of these reactions occurs by comparing one's own expectations about the government's activities with the perception of the results of these activities. The dynamics of the influence of socio-economic, value-ideological and structural factors on the assessment of government activities was analyzed on the basis of empirical data from the five waves of the European Social Research (ESS) and the 2020 monitoring study of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. the dynamics of the influence of socio-economic, value-ideological and structural factors on the assessment of power was analyzed. It was found that in the case of forming the government through a coalition of political forces in the parliament, citizens' perception of government activities is largely determined by their ideological beliefs. In particular, in relation to both governments of Yulia Tymoshenko, more satisfaction was observed among people who position themselves on the right ideological flank. On the other hand, in relation to the government of Viktor Yanukovych, more satisfaction was observed among people positioning themselves on the ideological left flank. In contrast to this, when the government is formed on the initiative of the presidential administration, government policy is perceived by the population through the prism of their structural and socio-economic interests. Satisfaction with the activities of the second Mykola Azarov’s Government and the Denys Shmyhal’s Government was mostly conditioned by an income and financial situation of the respondens. The results of the study generally supported the assumption that the turnover of government and the institutional form of government is reflected in the attitude of citizens to the activities of governments.