“LEFT-RIGHT” PARTY-IDEOLOGICAL DELINEATION AS A PRINCIPAL MEAN OF STRUCTURING OF THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Having emerged (mostly accidentally) in the late XVIII century in France, the concept of “left-right” party-ideological delineation nowadays has become one of the most widespread and universal methods for structuring of the political landscape, which is actively used both in the political science research and in the journalistic discourse. Paying homage to the important role that this concept plays in the modern political science, we may also derive two principal functions, which this concept plays in the real social and political life: on the collective life, it is beneficial for social orientation and simplifies political communication. Thus, it functions as a symbolic system of coordinates, which enables parties to perform their positioning and stand out among another political forces, having tied own political position with the place in the said system. On the individual level, this concept helps people to make a reasoned political choice based thereon 1 . Introduction and definitive establishment of the “left-right” semantics in the political science discourse, which, however, is characterised by the instability of the principal terms (they are constantly changing, attracting new features and content depending on one or another social and political context, or even political traditions, which are ruling in a certain region 2 ), gave push to a continued scientific discussion regarding the specifics of conceptualisation of the mentioned delineation and its research potential 3 . We should also stress here that Western political science is represented by a whole complex