THE DYNAMICS OF LEGITIMACY DURING WAR: CIVIL SOCIETY AS AN INSTITUTIONAL COMPENSATOR AND THE POLITICAL RISKS OF POST-WAR DESIGN

Abstract

The full-scale invasion by Russia against Ukraine has caused a dynamic shift in the understanding of the legitimacy of public authority institutions, revealing the limitations of traditional rational-legal and performative approaches. The study's relevance stems from the qualitative transformation of the political system's sources of support during an extreme crisis, where socio-cultural determinants and axiological congruence acquire decisive importance. The article's purpose is a comprehensive political and institutional analysis of the dynamics of legitimacy under martial law, carried out through the prism of the role of civil society and informal institutionalization. The theoretical framework is based on the synthesis of classical political science concepts (M. Weber, D. Easton, T. Parsons, J. Habermas) and the phenomenological approach (P. Berger, T. Luckmann) to conceptualize legitimacy as a dynamic socio-cultural construct. The key findings are as follows: amidst functional deficits and limitations of democratic procedures, legitimacy is maintained through the hybridization of Weberian types (particularly charismatic) and the shift of trust to institutions embodying the «national-cultural code» of resistance (the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the volunteer movement). Civil society is thus conceptualized as an informal institutional compensator that effectively addresses public administration deficits (specific support, «outputs») and critically maintains the system's diffuse support through communication and the formation of axiological solidarity («inputs»). A key political risk for post-war design is identified, crystallizing in the risk of an institutional gap – a structural disconnection between highly trusted informal actors and overburdened/unreformed formal state institutions. This gap threatens structural dysfunction and disintegration of socio-political relations following a decrease in charismatic legitimacy. The article proposes political and institutional recommendations for the strategic harmonization of high axiological legitimacy with rational-legal accountability. These include the institutionalization of civil society's social capital and the reform of «output» institutions through digital transparency to ensure sustainable legitimacy in the post-war period.