МЕТОДОЛОГІЯ КЕМБРИДЖСЬКОЇ ШКОЛИ ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНОЇ ІСТОРІЇ ТА ДИСКУРС ПРО РОЛЬ УКРАЇНИ НА МІЖНАРОДНІЙ АРЕНІ

The methodology of the Cambridge School of Intellectual History, the key approach of which was dubbed “contextualism”, draws particular attention to the analysis of political idioms (languages) in a given socio-political context in order to answer the key question: “what was doing the author when he uttered his statement?”, and the answer to this question is used to indicate the possibilities for the study of internal Ukrainian discourse about the role of Ukraine on international arena using the example of the thesis about the imaginary “external governance” of our country. The concept of “intellectual history” itself has been applied to a wide range of research objects, and this fact provides opportunities for the study of discussions about Ukraine’s foreign policy vector and Ukraine’s relations with other states and international actors. It can be studied and as an intellectual history, reconstructed by analysing different language forms of political communities and statements about Ukrainian politics. It will also provide a better understanding of how concepts are used in different political contexts. Rhetorical and practical vocabulary shapes the views of political actors, expands or limits their possibilities of discursive actions. From the perspective of the Cambridge School, the study of political idioms allows us to find out how descriptive paradigms are changing and how political “accents” are placed. The example of the discourse about the role of Ukraine in international relations demonstrates that political actors who put forward the thesis of “external governance” regarding our state, question its sovereignty and international subjectivity, but with this rhetorical approach they also separate Ukraine from the West ( which, among other things, actively insists on how important it is to fight corruption) and they open opportunities for Ukraine’s rapprochement with Russia by reformatting this country’s position within the domestic political discourse – from an aggressor country its status changes to a potential partner, creditor or even financial donor. With the help of such a technique, there is also a shift in attention from forces that have a negative impact on the country’s domestic and foreign policy (oligarchs) to imaginary external pressure. Further research into the processes of production and understanding of statements in Ukrainian politics, including its place and role in the international arena, using the methodology of the Cambridge School of Intellectual History may also contribute to an improvement in interdisciplinary links between humanities and social sciences.