Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The presentation will represent the results of socio-legal research that concentrates on the problem of legal nihilism and its distribution in contemporary Belarus. The topic is of special interests for legal field of the post-Soviet area. As this phenomenon is defined as a very dangerous and destructive practice that is widely spread or typical for this territory it is often seen as a feature of Slavic legal culture. The main question of the research was: why in terms of legal nihilism conception, which is very negative one, just (or mostly) the situation in “Russia” (that here means and Belarus as well) is described by scientists. Do the Slavs Practice Legal Nihilism more then others? Using qualitative and quantitative research methods the level of legal culture and legal nihilism among Belarussian youth had been evaluated. Also the discourse on legal nihilism had been analyzed.
Analyzing collected data obtained during the survey, focus groups, interviews, discourse analysis author came to conclusion that legal nihilism is an “empty signifier” and a mean of Discourse that has power to nominate, give evaluation and hence to control the social reality and behavior of people.