HISTORICAL AND LEGAL ANALYSIS OF FORCED ALIENATION AND ILLEGITIMATE EXPROPRIATION OF CULTURAL VALUES OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article analyzes the historical and legal principles of forced alienation and illegitimate expropriation of cultural values of Ukraine in the context of the evolution of state power, legal regimes and mechanisms of public administration. The research was carried out taking into account an interdisciplinary approach combining a legal, historical and socio-cultural perspective, due to which cultural values were considered not only as objects of legal protection, but as an element of the formation of national identity and legitimization of statehood. Within the framework of the work, the main historical stages of the loss of cultural heritage were systematized, starting from the early forms of its forced migration and ending with modern manifestations of occupation looting in conditions of armed aggression. In the process of research, the key factors determining the scale and forms of alienation of cultural values were determined, in particular, the limited or lack of political and legal subjectivity of Ukrainian territories, the dominance of imperial and totalitarian management models, as well as the use of law as a tool of centralized control. The transformation of the legal status of cultural objects in different historical periods has been analyzed and the management and militaryadministrative practices that contributed to their removal, relocation or destruction have been summarized. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the nature of state power and the priorities of public interests, which were realized at the expense of limiting the cultural rights of society.The paper made a legal assessment of historical forms of expropriation through the prism of the modern understanding of cultural heritage protection, which made it possible to rethink them as a violation of the fundamental principles of preserving cultural identity. A generalization of approaches to the interpretation of forced alienation of cultural values as an element of broader processes of political subordination and cultural assimilation is carried out. It was determined that the modern stage is characterized not only by physical losses of cultural heritage objects, but also by a purposeful impact on historical memory and symbolic space, which actualizes the need for further development of legal mechanisms for the protection and return of Ukrainian cultural values. The obtained results can be used to deepen scientific research in the field of legal history, international humanitarian law and the formation of conceptual foundations for the restitution of the cultural heritage of Ukraine