Socio-political activism: transformational challenges in the context of war

The development of civil society is closely linked to the historical process of the formation of the Ukrainian nation. After the outbreak of full-scale war, civil society quickly adapted and at different levels solved social, economic, humanitarian, political, and other problems faced by the country. We hypothesize that martial law has a significant impact on the structure and functions of civil society, and on the activation of public and political involvement of Ukrainians. So, the article initially discusses theoretical aspects of the study of civil society in general and social practices of online activism and volunteerism during the war. It also summarizes the results of a pilot study of the socio-political activity of students of Kyiv universities. Studies of sociological indicators of civil society, sociological portraits of members of public organizations, online civic activity, practices of self-organization, various types of voluntary activities, and political participation of Ukrainians have always been and are relevant. Since new discourses, forms, and ways of realizing political participation and public initiative are only growing every year, new research challenges should be taken up, while using well-working concepts. Therefore, we carried out a pilot study of the socio-political activity of student youth by V. Stepanenko's 3D-dimensional scheme of civil society and made the following conclusions. On the wave of the national liberation struggle against RF, the vector of citizenship began to develop rapidly, there was a rethinking of the meaning of the state, the nation, and one's own identity, which had a certain impact on the worldview of young people and the general trends of activity. In general, the vector of activity among students is gradually developing: the palette of forms of activity and the frequency of their reproduction (as noted by students themselves) have significantly expanded. However, these activities are predominantly individualized and not systematic. Therefore, in general, the activity remains at a low level, partly due to the impossibility of developing the vector of openness during martial law.