https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2020-4-81

CONDITIONS FOR THE REALIZATION OF POLITICAL FREEDOM IN POST-SOVIET SOCIETY: EXPERIENCE IN SOCIAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS AND MODELING

A. G. Myasnikov

Penza State University, Penza, Russia

e-mail: myasnikov-g@mail.ru

T. A. Myasnikova

National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

e-mail: miasnikova777@mail.ru

Abstract. The article considers an actual social and philosophical problem of determining the conditions for political freedom fulfillment in a post-Soviet society. To study this problem, a systematic-evolutionary approach, which includes a number of interrelated theoretical methods and models, is used. The main theoretical model of the study is the socio-anthropological concept of the ten degrees of freedom as independence, where political freedom is on the seventh level. Political freedom is funded by the previous levels of legal, economic and social autonomy. The article analyzes the objective and subjective conditions necessary to achieve this seventh degree of freedom, and gives a systematic overview of the main factors that hinder this process.

Objective conditions for the possibility to fulfill political freedom include independent justice; developed institution of private property; real functioning of public organizations that protect, above all, social and economic rights and interests of private owners and employees. The formation of these objective conditions is hindered by a number of factors, such as a high level of corruption in the government, increased repressive and protective activities of the state, and the absence of mass independent trade union organizations. Subjective (value-normative) conditions include the idea of personal freedom as a person’s independence, expressed in the internal need to be one’s own master; postulates of positive freedom, which direct the activities of individuals and the whole society to political, moral, religious and creative self-realization, leading to the common good. In most post-Soviet societies, these ideas are opposed by ideological traps, outdated stereotypes of consciousness that block new ideas and hamper the innovative development of societies themselves. The main subjective obstacle is the traditional political power principle that the end justifies the means.

The study revealed a significant connection between the socio-economic (basic) and higher degrees of freedom – political, moral-religious and creative.

Key words: political freedom, post-Soviet society, freedom as independence, degrees of freedom, traps for freedom.

Acknowledgements. The research was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) within the framework of scientific project No. 19-011-00137 «The evolution of freedom in post-Soviet society: socio-philosophical analysis and practical modeling».

Cite as: Myasnikov, A. G., Myasnikova, T. A. (2020) [Conditions for the realization of political freedom in post-soviet society: experience in social and philosophical analysis and modeling]. Intellekt. Innovatsii. Investitsii [Intellect. Innovations. Investments]. Vol. 4, pp. 81–90. DOI: 10.25198/2077-7175-2020-4-81.