Natalina N. The strategies of political conversion of public capitals in postsoviet countries.

The specific character of political transformation in postsoviet countries through the individual and group conversion strategies of political actors is studied in this research. The peculiarities of conversion concept application of public capital are used as a methodology of research of political elites in transforming societies. Economic, social, political, symbolic, cultural and gender capitals are the most significant in political field and function on three levels: individual, group and societal. As a general definition for these forms of capital the notion "public capitals" was suggested. The results of qualitative comparative analysis of accession to power of Ukrainian, Georgian, Moldavian and Lithuanian opposition elites in the beginning of the twenty-first century as well as the influence of the implemented conversion strategies on political field transformation are represented in this thesis. The accession to power of opposition elite depends on the structure of its total capital, the type of political regime and the special character of political field which determine the relative value of capital in a society. It is demonstrated that Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 are the results of investing the symbolic capital into the electoral process by the opposition elite (taking into consideration the other factors including geopolitical ones). It is proved that the implementation of the conversion strategies typical of the old ruling elite by the new ruling elite contributed to preservation of hybrid regimes in Georgia and Ukraine.