Abstract

The article is devoted to the place of social capital in the development of civil society in Ukraine. The author identifies the components of social capital and determine their significance to the development of social awareness. We give advice on creating an enabling environment for the growth of social capital. Social capital, NGOs and civil society concepts are often used in the same context. From the emergence of the concept of «social capital», which was first used by American scholar L. J. Hanifan as а part of discussions about community centers in rural schools, he tried to apply for the analysis of non-governmental organizations and civil society. The relationship between these three phenomena scientists from different countries in different contexts recorded repeatedly. This study is important because government policies promoting the development of civil society, in spite of the establishment of the Coordinating Council for Civil Society Development Strategy for approval of public policy to promote civic politics and Priority Action Plan for its implementation does not lead to significant qualitative changes in the position of civil society in Ukraine. The strategy is aimed primarily at institutional prerequisites for the development of civil society - the introduction of public control over the authorities to ensure independent activities of civil society, strengthening their impact on socially important decisions, creating conditions to ensure broad representation of interests of citizens in government and local governments, regular consultations with the public on important issues of society and the state. However, such changes in the political and legal environment of the existence of civil society does not give the desired effect, as the practice of their implementation and content of real substance so far behind.