Abstract

The research is relevant due to the need of successful solution of the domestic and foreign policy objectives of Ukraine in the current context of hybrid war. Understanding the nature of political propaganda on a theoretical level is a prerequisite for mastering this phenomenon in a practical way. This suggests that defiing the nature of political propaganda, one can optimize propaganda both in relation to political opponents, and effectively counter the opponents’ propaganda inflence. The purpose of this article is to determine the nature of political propaganda, to examine what determines the role of propaganda as an effective instrument of control over consciousness and behavior of the masses. The author argues that the nature of political propaganda is manipulative. This means that political propaganda for the achievement of strategic outcomes should be based on the mechanism of manipulative inflence on public consciousness and behavior. Effective propaganda, by absorbing the mechanism of manipulation, inconspicuously seeks to change the perception of reality its recipient, directing its activity on keeping with interests of the propagandist through different kinds of motivating actions. The most effective instrument of propaganda is the manipulation in combination with the structuring of various discourses. This leads to the fact that the image of the political subject becomes more desirable for public opinion, if it acquires a positive interpretation in legal, domestic, mass-media, entertainment and any other discourses. However, any discourse be understood to the General public through the images that illustrate and give it life dimension. The nature of propaganda is not determined by social practices, which propaganda uses as carriers of their inflence. Subordinating diverse social practices and phenomena as the methods and instruments of its dissemination, propaganda spreading its manipulative nature to them. The author of this article made the following conclusions. Propaganda operates in multiple dimensions simultaneously, using ideological, symbolic, mythological, verbal, visual, emotional, rational, communicative, entertainment, virtual, educational inflence on the perception of the target audience, which helps it to penetrate into all spheres of social interaction, including political relations. The role of propaganda as an effective instrument of control over consciousness and behavior of the masses is defied by its following features: ability to motivate, tempt, confuse, intimidate the target audience; to give the target the illusion that one can choose actions freely and independently; to act invisibly on the decision-making process, during which one cannot understand, what is propaganda or what is not; to neutralize the critical ability of his recipient; to create a link between the intentional action and satisfaction a strong desire of the target audience.