Theoretical foundations of the investigation of political competition of parties.

Abstract

The investigation examines the political competition of parties. In the framework of these issues in more details is discussed the state of research and development problems in the works of foreign and domestic political science. It is proved that competition between political parties for support from the community is an important criterion of democratization of the political process. The attention is focused on the fact that political competition between political parties is an important factor in the legitimization of power by raising the level of political activity of citizens in electoral periods through engaging them in active political activities. The key concept of "political competition of parties" is considered by the author in the context of theories of democracy based on fundamental developments of the theory of political parties, which carried out foreign and domestic researchers of political science. It is noted that the nature of political competition of parties depends on the type of political regime and level of political culture of citizens. It is proved that political competition has a different character in different types of political regimes. In authoritarian and totalitarian political regimes, the relevant preferences have pro-government political parties. In democratic political regimes political parties act in equal conditions. It is noted that for the Ukrainian political process characteristic is the neglect of political and legal norms and the establishment and compliance with the “rules of the game” at which will happen the political competition of parties. In turn, the Ukrainian political elites consider the political and legal norms not through the prism of certain qualitative characteristics and values, but using technical tools, which you can change depending on the specific political situation and the rating of political parties. Political competition of parties in large extent is carried out through informal channels, in which the formal legal rules often become the formal confirmation of the achieved before informal arrangements between the government and the opposition.