The purpose of the article. Identify the nature of challenges, threats, dangers and risks as destructive factors of social, man-made and natural origin; to prove the priority of the category “threat” as a kind of risk in the domestic legislation on national security; to argue the thesis about Ukraine’s belonging to “risk societies”; point to the further complication of the process of producing various threats and challenges against the state and society.
Scientific novelty. Based on the use of the current legal framework of Ukraine on national security, the existence of a process of continuous accumulation of risks in key areas of the state and the transformation of Ukrainian society on this basis into a “society of risk” is proved. Emphasis is placed on accelerating this process in the context of the hybrid war launched by Russia against Ukraine in 2014.
Social development dictates the need for a clear verbal designation of destructive factors against the interests of the majority (national interests). The terms describing their likely or real impact on society were “challenges”, “threats”, “dangers” and “risks”. The natural step of their substantive definition and meaningful filling was their implementation in the conceptual and categorical apparatus of national security theory. In a broad sense, national security is proposed to be considered a state of protection of national interests and values, both from challenges, threats and dangers, and risks. The most widely used term in Ukraine’s socio-political realities is the “threat” that is widely represented in national legislation on national security. The total number of threats in modern Ukraine is steadily increasing. According to Western analytical developments, the excessive spread of threats in basic social spheres (economic, political, social, spiritual, cultural, etc.) gives reason to qualify Ukraine as a “risk society”.
The situation is complicated by the hybrid war being waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and other democratic countries. It is advisable to present the modern hostilities initiated by Russia as a process of continuous production of threats (risks), the total effect of which should be the destruction of the Ukrainian statehood.
In such circumstances, Ukraine should accelerate the process of development (updating) and practical implementation of key strategic documents – the National Security Strategy, the Military Security Strategy, the Cyber Security Strategy, the Public Security and Civil Defense Strategy, the Strategy for the Development of the Defense Industrial Complex. But for the time being, such documents are either substantially outdated or missing at all.
Conclusions. Society, based on its complex nature, built on unity and the struggle of opposites, feels the constant impact of challenges, threats and dangers (risks), which it generates. There are no unified and generally accepted interpretations of challenges, threats, dangers and risks. Each country offers its own formats of their interaction and mutual transformation. The most widely used of these are “threats” (Ukraine) and “risks” (Western countries). The total number of risks in which Ukraine is directly or indirectly involved is steadily progressing. Accordingly, modern Ukraine is a clearly defined “society of risks.” Under the pressure of numerous challenges, threats and dangers, Ukraine as a “society of risks” abandons the unambiguous (linear) formulation of threats to national security inherent in specific public spheres, and their legislative consolidation. The state provides for the preparation and periodic updating of a number of strategies (national security, military security, cybersecurity, other documents), which should contain a list of major threats that currently exist in state and social development.
Key words: challenge, threat, danger, risk, national security, hybridization of threats, risk society.
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