Matsyshyna I. Discourse practices of constructing the political reality of Ukraine.

The thesis examines political actuality by studying political processes that were taking place in independent Ukraine of 1991 - 2014. The formation of regional elites, the transformation of power institutions, processes of local self-determination, the dynamics of the protest movement and foreign policy relations were analyzed as denotations which acquired their own interpretations in political discourse. Interpretation is explained as a connotation of actuality, which transmits it to the level of reality and affects the political experience of the subject. Political discourse is comprehended as a set of sign-symbolic interactions and studied as the process of elaboration of interpretations. The role of sign-symbolic interactions that form the discourse practice is determined. Communication is established through discursive practice and its members are involved in the political context with the help of signs and symbols. Through the symbolic exchange, the official political discourse seeks to establish conventionality as the contractual level of political communication participants. It determines the rule-making processes and aims to establish the stability of the political system and save power. This kind of discourse is ensured by political elite that produces official political discourse and owns a symbolic capital, which is a power controlling resource.