DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2025.12.2.3
Ihor Ishchenko, D.Sc. in Political Science
Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Dnipro, Ukraine
Olena Bashkeieva, PhD in Philosophy
University of Customs and Finance, Dnipro, Ukraine
Olga Zaiets, PhD in Philosophy
University of Customs and Finance, Dnipro, Ukraine
How to cite: Ishchenko, I., Bashkeieva, O., & Zaiets, O. (2025). Cultural Patterns of Political Institutions under Polarization in International Relations. Evropský politický a právní diskurz, 12, 2, 29-40. https://doi.org/10.46340/eppd.2025.12.2.3
Abstract
This article investigates international relations under polarization against the background of political institutions’ cultural patterns. The term ‘pattern’ has developed within the framework of classical and post-non-classical science and its significant interdisciplinarity. Along with other regularities, international relations have one like path dependence. China, India, and African countries are chosen as the research object cases, taking into account positive dynamics of their demographic situation and growing role in the international space. Temporality of mental rhythms in political institutions affecting international relations is illustrated on the basis of realism and constructivism paradigms and Duby and Braudel’s theoretical background.
Cultural patterns case of China’s political institutions includes an emphasis on ‘guanxi’ and ‘mianzi’. These cultural phenomena have been affecting China’s diplomacy and foreign policy. The article considers ‘a wolf-warrior diplomacy’ activity under polarization in international relations. ‘Hindutva’ along with elites’ awareness of their colonial past, their desire to dominate the region, diversity, and constructivism are the main manifestations of the cultural patterns of India’s political institutions. Formation of cultural patterns of political institutions in Africa is affected by such traditions as hospitality, solidarity, sense of community at all levels. The article argues that African countries, in the context of external actors’ rivalry concerning influence and relations development, will prefer those whose political institutions have cultural patterns congruent to African political structures.
Keywords: cultural patterns, political institutions, polarization, international relations, guanxi, mianzi, Hindutva, values, synergetics, constructivism
References
African Union (2013). Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview
Baltodano, P. (2023). Opinion – China’s Soft Power Diplomacy in the Caribbean. E-International Relations. https://www.e-ir.info/2023/12/06/opinion-chinas-soft-power-diplomacy-in-the-caribbean/
Báo Quốc Tế (2024). As the US Increasingly Fades, How Has China Left its Mark on Africa? VIETNAM.VN. https://www.vietnam.vn/en/khien-my-ngay-cang-lu-mo-trung-quoc-da-de-lai-dau-an-tai-chau-phi-nhu-the-nao
Benedict, R. (1959). Patterns of Culture. Boston: Houghton Mifflin company. BEROSE. https://www.berose.fr/IMG/pdf/1934-patterns_of_culture.pdf
Benedict, R. (1947). The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. London: Secker & Warburg. https://www.berose.fr/IMG/pdf/1947-chrysanthemum.pdf
Bielienko, I. (2020). Kytaiskyi kolonializm v Afrytsi [Chinese Colonialism in Africa]. Militarnyi. https://militarnyi.com/uk/articles/kytajskyj-kolonializm-v-afrytsi/ [in Ukrainian].
Blagodyr, L., & Filatova, L. (2024). Cultural Dimensions in International Economic Environment: Determinants of Successful Marketing Localisation in Foreign Markets. Economy and Society, 69. https://doi.org/10.32782/2524-0072/2024-69-157
Blank, J. (2019). How Hinduism Became a Political Weapon in India. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/05/hindu-nationalism-narendra-modi-india-election/590053/
Boiko-Boichuk, L. V. (2006). Synerhetychnyi pidkhid u politychnykh doslidzhenniakh (Na prykladi analizu polityko-vladnoi vzaiemodii u terytorialnyi hromadakh v Ukraini) [Synergistic Approach in Political Research (On the Example of Analyzing Political-Authority Interaction in Territorial Communities in Ukraine)]: Avtoreferat dysertatsii na zdobuttya naukovoho stupennia kandydata politychnykh nauk [Abstract of Thesis PhD]. Kyiv: NAS of Ukraine. Institute of Political Ethno-National Research named after I. F. Kuras. [in Ukrainian].
Braudel, F.(1967). La Méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de Philippe II [The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world at the time of Philip II]. Paris: Librairie Armand Colin, I–III.
Brat Aloyis [Brother Alois] (2009). Lyst iz Keniyi [Letter from Kenya]. TAIZÉ.
https://www.taize.fr/uk_article8876.html#nh16 [in Ukrainian].
Ckavron, B. (2024). Try afrykanski derzhavy utvoryly alians i zvernulysia po dopomohu do Rosii [Three African States Formed an Alliance and Turned to Russia for Help]. TSN. https://tsn.ua/svit/tri-afrikanski-derzhavi-utvorili-alyans-i-zvernulisya-za-dopomogoyu-do-rosiyi-2616045.html [in Ukrainian].
Duby, G. (1987). Histoire de la France : Le Moyen Âge, 987-1460 [History of France: The Middle Ages, 987-1460. Hachette]. Paris: Hachette. [in French].
Dziubenko, V. (2020). «Uhoda stolittia»: amerykano-izrailska fantaziia pro Palestynu [“The Deal of the Century”: The American-Israeli Fantasy on Palestine]. Plomin.Club. https://plomin.club/deal-of-the-century/
[in Ukrainian].
Foll, B. (2015). Afrykanska hostynnist – tradytsiia, shcho znykaie? [Is African Hospitality a Disappearing Tradition?]. AFRICANERS. https://africaners.com/uk/afrikanskaya-kul-tura-uk/afrikans-ka-gostinnist-traditsiya-shho-znikaye/ [in Ukrainian].
Herasina, L. M. (2023). Heopolitychnyi «klimat» i svitoustrii XXI st.: dominantni tendentsii [Geopolitical “Climate” and the World Order of the 21st Century: Dominant Trends]. Visnyk Yaroslava Mudroho [The Bulletin of Yaroslav Mudryi], 1 (56), 122-134. https://doi.org/10.21564/2663-5704.56.273999 [in Ukrainian].
Herasina, L., et al. (2022). Macrofluctuations of the International System Under the Influence of Global Turbulence and Hybrid Wars. Visnyk Yaroslava Mudroho [The Bulletin of Yaroslav Mudryi], 2(53), 133-155. https://doi.org/10.21564/2663-5704.53.258166
Horot, Ye.I., et al. (2011). Pattern. Velykyi anhlo-ukrainskyi slovnyk [Big English-Ukrainian Dictionary]. https://e2u.org.ua/s?w=Pattern&dicts=17&highlight=on&filter_lines=on [in Ukrainian].
Isabirye, S., & Mahmoudi, K. (2000). Rwanda, Burundi, and Their “Ethnic” Conflicts. Ethnic Studies Review, 23 (1), 62-80. https://doi.org/10.1525/esr.2000.23.1.62
Ishchenko, I.V. (2015). Synerhetychna proektsiia polityko-instytutsiinoi vzaiemodii u nestabilnomu seredovyshchi [Synergistic Projection of Political-Institutional Interaction in an Unstable Environment]. Dysertatsiia na zdobutya naukovoho stupenniu doktora politychnyh nauk [Abstract of Doctor’s Thesis]. Dnipropetrovsk: Dnipropetrovsk National University named after Oles Honchar. [in Ukrainian].
Koch, S., & Uzun, Yu. (2024). Spatial Imagination in Politics: The Strategic Role of Phantom Borders and Imaginary Territories. Evropský politický a právní diskurz [European Political and Law Discourse], 11(6), 5-12. https://doi.org/10.46340/eppd.2024.11.6.1
Korotkov, D. (2024). Mizhnarodna systema: heopolitychna konkurentsiia «velykykh derzhav» [International System: Geopolitical Competition of the “Great Powers”]. Filosofiya ta politolohiya v konteksti suchasnoyi kultury [Philosophy and Political Science in the Context of Modern Culture], 16(2), 196-204. https://doi.org/10.15421/352460 [in Ukrainian].
Kroeber, A. L. (1947). The Nature of Culture. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. http://staff.washington.edu/ellingsn/Kroeber-NatureofCulture.pdf
Kryvoshein, V. V. (2009). Politychna ryzykolohiia: epistemolohichnyi status, predmetna sfera, analitychni instrumenty [Political Riskology: Epistemological Status, Subject Area, Analytical Tools]. Dnipropetrovsk: Innovatsiia. [in Ukrainian].
Leithner, A., & Libby, K. (2017). Path Dependency in Foreign Policy. Oxford Research Encyclopedias. Politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.376
UISGDA (2019). Modi Narendra peremih za dopomohoiu naiefektyvnishoi zbroi suchasnosti – relihii [Narendra Modi Won With the Most Effective Weapon of Our Time – Religion].
https://uisgda.com/ua/narendra-modi-pobedil-s-pomoshhyu-samogo-effektivnogo-oruzhiya-sovremennosti-religii.html [in Ukrainian].
Ogden, С. (2017). Perception and Evolution in the Making of China and India as Great Powers. E-International Relations. https://www.e-ir.info/2017/05/25/perception-and-evolution-in-the-making-of-china-and-india-as-great-powers/
Palanisami, R. (2020). Opinion – Making Sense of China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ Diplomacy. E-International Relations. https://www.e-ir.info/2020/08/10/opinion-making-sense-of-chinas-wolf-warrior-diplomacy/
Pletsan, K. (2023). Universalni zakonomirnosti vynyknennia, evoliutsii i funktsionuvannia kulturnoi dyplomatii v strukturi mekhanizmu rozvytku kreatyvnykh industrii Ukrainy [Universal Patterns of the Emergence, Evolutionand Functioning of Cultural Diplomacy in the Structure of the Development Mechanism of Creative Industries of Ukraine]. Current Issues of the Humanities, 70(2), 4-16.
https://doi.org/10.24919/2308-4863/70-2-1 [in Ukrainian].
Pohribna, V., & Herasina, L. (2024). The Nature of the Current Geopolitical Crisis and the Main Trends of Changes in the World Order. International Relations, Public Communications and Regional Studios, 2(19), 23-42. https://doi.org/10.29038/2524-2679-2024-02-23-42
Prigogine, I., & Stengers, I. (1984). Order Out of Chaos: Man’s New Dialogue with Nature. Toronto; New York,: Bantam Books. https://archive.org/details/orderoutofchaosm00prig
Ringmar, E. (2020). Constructivism and ‘First Encounters’: A Critique. E-International Relations, 1-5. https://www.e-ir.info/pdf/87313
Romaniuk, R., & Romaniuk N. (2022). Krosparadyhmalni konteksty nauky pro mizhnarodni vidnosyny: instrumentalizatsiia teorii «demokratychnoho myru» dlia potreb politychnoho realizmu [Cross-Paradigmatic Contexts of International Relations Science: Instrumentalization of the Theory of “Democratic Peace” for the Needs of Political Realism]. Modern Historical and Political Issues, 46, 101-108. https://doi.org/10.31861/mhpi2022.46.101-108 [in Ukrainian].
Tolstov, S. (2023). Systems Analysis of International Relations: Theoretical and Methodological Criteria and Principles. Problems of World History, 3(23), 18-66. https://doi.org/10.46869/2707-6776-2023-23-2
Tsyhvintsev, I. (2024). Political Culture in the Age of Digitalization: New Research Tools. Political Studies, 2(8), 137-155. https://doi.org/10.53317/2786-4774-2024-2-7
Tyshkevych, I. (2024). Sproba «rosiiskoi hry». A teper zvernit uvahu na Afryku [An Attempt at the “Russian Game.” Now Turn Your Attention to Africa]. New Voice.
https://nv.ua/ukr/opinion/rf-vtrachaye-vpliv-v-africi-shcho-roblyat-franciya-ta-ssha-dumka-eksperta-50473224.html [in Ukrainian].
Romashenko, S. (2025). Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger withdraw from ECOWAS. D.W. https://www.dw.com/ru/mali-burkinafaso-i-niger-vysli-iz-organizacii-ekovas/a-71441968
Xue, Y. (2023). Guanxi Culture’s Role in China’s Great Power Diplomacy and Foreign Policy. E-International Relations. https://www.e-ir.info/2023/10/06/guanxi-cultures-role-in-chinas-great-power-diplomacy-and-foreign-policy/
