The article deals with the issue of implementation of the democracy idea under the conditions of development of a democratic, social welfare, rule-of-law state in Ukraine in the context of formulating of the national legal doctrine.

The purpose of the article is to clarify the relationship between the concepts “democracy” and “rule of the people” and the role of the State in the constitutioning and ensuring of the real exercise of rule of the people.

The author notes the significance of etymology of the word “democracy” which facilitates the understanding of this concept and its interpretation by various ideological trends in modern society.

Three main variants of the democratic ideal in the modern world are specified; they are liberal democracy, social democracy and people's democracy, and each of them has a different understanding of the concept “the people”.

The author describes the contradictions inherent in these variants which the national legal doctrine should take into account. The author emphasizes the adverse effect of liberal democracy ideas in terms of the exercise of real rule of the people in Ukraine, the incoherence and internal inconsistency from the perspective of setting the liberal democracy-based foundations of Ukraine’s constitutional order in the Constitution.

The author demonstrates the importance of state power in determining and changing the democratic governance form of Ukraine, its subordination to the exercise by the people of the exclusive right to determine and change the constitutionally established order.

The author arrives at the conclusion about the expected presence of internal contradictions in liberal democracy as a state governance form which is inherently antipeople and which fundamentally denies the implementation of the democracy idea; the author substantiates the objective need for social democracy at the present stage of Ukraine’s development.

It is argued that there is an urgent need for formulation of a scientifically based legal doctrine of Ukraine, and some of its essential provisions are identified, in particular, the need to define the national idea and the way of its implementation, replacement of the democracy formula “People – government – Constitution” for the formula “People – Constitution – government”, enhancement of parliamentarism, and the significance which the legal doctrine has for this purpose.

Bibliography

Edited and translated books

1. Boll T ta Degger R, ‘Demokratychnyi ideal: istoriia stanovlennia’ [‘The Democratic Ideal: History of Establishment’] v Demokratiia: antolohiia [Democracy: An Anthology] (Protsenko O uporiad, Smoloskyp 2005) (in Ukrainian).

2. Marks K i Jengel’s F, Sochinenija v tridcati devjati tomah [Works in Thirty-Nine Volumes], t 1 (Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo politicheskoj literatury 1954) (in Russian).

3. Moroz O ta Yushchyk O (uporiad), Formula demokratii: “Narod – konstytutsiia – vlada”: 20-richchiu Konstytutsii Ukrainy prysviachuietsia [Democracy Formula: “PeopleConstitution-Government”: Dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Constitution] (Parlam vyd-vo 2016) (in Ukrainian).

4. Sartori Dzh, ‘Osnovy teorii demokratii: narod i vriaduvannia’ [‘Foundations of the Democracy Theory: People and Governance’] v Demokratiia: antolohiia [Democracy: an Anthology] (Protsenko O uporiad, Smoloskyp 2005) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

5. Tepliuk M ta Yushchyk O, ‘Pravovi problemy zminennia Konstytutsii Ukrainy’ [‘Legal Challenges of Changing the Constitution of Ukraine’] (2007) 12 Pravo Ukrainy 4 (in Ukrainian).

6. Shemshuchenko Yu ta Yushchyk O, ‘Aktualni problemy rozvytku parlamentaryzmu v konteksti konstytutsiinoho protsesu v Ukraini’ [‘Topical Issues of Parliamentarism Development in the Context of the Constitutional Process in Ukraine’] (2008) 19 Pravova derzhava 3-7 (in Ukrainian).

Newspaper articles

7. Yushchyk O, ‘Konstytutsiia yak kryterii istynnoi polityky’ [‘The Constitution as a Criterion of True Politics’]. Holos Ukrainy. 2019. 20 chervnia. 4-5 (in Ukrainian).

Thesis

8. Yushchyk O, ‘Teoretychni problemy zakonodavchoho protsesu’ [‘Theoretical Challenges of the Legislative Process’] (avtoref dys d-ra yuryd nauk, 2005) (in Ukrainian).