Abstract
The relevance of the subject matter is conditioned by the problem of the crisis of national Ukrainian identity against the background of Russian military aggression, which is a strategic threat to the country, which has been fighting for its independence and territorial integrity for years. The purpose of the study was to investigate the possibilities and means of influencing cultural policy on the process of developing the national identity of Ukrainians. To achieve this goal, the following procedures were applied: analytical and synthetic research, phenomenological, dialectical, cultural, descriptive, and causal methods that reveal the content of cultural policy and identify influences on the processes of national identification. The basis of the research was the thesis that culture, being a phenomenon of the living world, is simultaneously an instrument of politics, a means of communication, and a tool for manipulating consciousness. In the course of the research, it was found that non-violent and non-aggressive means of cultural policy are more effective for the processes of self-identification and development of national identity, intercultural communication, compared to conventional mechanisms of influence, which are often ineffective in modern conditions of postnon-classical society with its uncertainty, transnational ties, hybrid wars, etc. Aesthetic and emotional perception, typical of culture and art, appeals to the ideas of cultural unity, the heredity of cultural traditions, common markers of memory as a basis for understanding complex issues of socio-political existence. It precedes a rationally substantiated awareness of reality, providing at the aesthetic level the development of pre-conceptual impressions through emotions, irrational manifestations. Detached values of the aesthetic acquire the ability to influence reality, containing a perfect image of proper existence, reflect the socio-cultural matrix of the present, and provide stable mechanisms for identifying the individual and social development, objectified in political programmes, ethical principles, worldview ideas, creative acts, etc. The results of the study can be used by state and local authorities, public organisations for strategic planning and correction of cultural policy, cultural diplomacy, etc.