Almanac of law. Issue 17 (2026), pages 34–39.
DOI: 10.33663/2524-017X-2026-17-34-39
Onishchenko N. M.
Subjective Factors Influencing the Mechanism of Law Implementation
The article examines subjective factors influencing the mechanism of law implementation through the prism of contemporary socio-legal challenges, which, in the context of the full-scale armed aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine, have acquired particular urgency. It is substantiated that the effectiveness of law-implementation processes cannot be identified solely with the quality of normative regulation or the institutional capacity of the state, since legal consciousness and behavioural attitudes of legal subjects play a decisive role. The study emphasises the necessity of distinguishing between objective and subjective determinants of law implementation and highlights the insufficient level of scholarly attention paid to the latter.
The analysis focuses on nihilism, pessimism and absenteeism in the legal sphere as specific manifestations of the deformation of legal consciousness that generate a gap between the normative existence of law and its actual operation. The author argues that conventional doctrinal collocations such as “legal nihilism” are terminologically inaccurate, as they conceptually combine negative social attitudes (denial, rejection, disappointment) with law itself as a value-based regulatory phenomenon. For analytical clarity, the paper proposes the use of more precise terms, namely “nihilism in the legal sphere”, “pessimism in the legal sphere”, and “absenteeism in the legal sphere”.
The article differentiates nihilism in the legal sphere as predominantly a theoretical form of non-recognition or denial of law from pessimism in the legal sphere, which is grounded primarily in negative individual or collective experience and manifests itself as disappointment in the regulatory and protective capacity of law. Absenteeism in the legal sphere is characterised as a form of legal passivity and disengagement, indicating a functional rupture between legal norms and their implementation. It may take the form of refusal to exercise rights, avoidance of legal remedies, or withdrawal from legally significant procedures, thereby undermining the effectiveness of law in practice.
The article concludes that overcoming the negative impact of subjective factors on law implementation requires not only legislative improvement and optimisation of law-enforcement activities, but also systematic efforts aimed at building trust in law, enhancing legal culture, and strengthening a human-centred legal ideology, which together constitute essential preconditions for the effective realisation of law.
Keywords: implementation of legal norms, nihilism in the legal sphere, pessimism in the legal sphere, absenteeism in the legal sphere, origins of nihilism in the legal sphere, legal consciousness, legal culture, trust in law.
References
- Zaichuk O. V., Onishchenko N. M. Porivnialne pravoznavstvo (teoretyko-pravove doslidzhennia). Kyiv: Feniks, 2007. 400 p. (in Ukr.).
- Ushakov O. M. Stan pravovoho poriadku v suchasnomu ukrainskomu suspilstvi ta etapy yoho formuvannia. Derzhava i pravо: Zb. Kyiv, 2004. T. 24. Pp. 66–71 (in Ukr.).
- Tkalia O., Zuieva A. Pravovyi nihilizm yak faktor vplyvu na natsionalnu bezpeku derzhavy. Pidpryiemnytstvo, hospodarstvo i pravo. 2019. № 5. Pp. 219–223 (in Ukr.).
- Osoblyvosti mizhnarodno-pravovoho zakhystu tsyvilnoho naselennia v suchasnykh zbroinykh konfliktakh: kolektyvna monohrafiia. Do 75-richchia Instytutu derzhavy i prava imeni V. M. Koretskoho NAN Ukrainy / za zah. red. d.iu.n., prof. V. N. Denysova. Kyiv: Parlamentske vydavnytstvo, 2023. 777 p. (in Ukr.).
- Onishchenko N. Pravovyi optymizm chy pravovyi pesymizm: vybir, neobkhidnyi suspilstvu. Viche. 2013. № 11. Pp. 20–22 (in Ukr.).
Onishchenko N. Pravovyi svitohliad: sotsiolohichnyi vymir. Sotsiolohiia prava. 2014. № 1–2. URL: http://soclaw.idpnan.kyiv.ua/archive/2014/1-2/3.pdf (in Ukr.).
Дата першого надходження рукопису до видання: 02.02.2026
Дата прийнятого до друку рукопису після рецензування: 09.04.2026
Дата публікації: 30.04.2026