From Traditions to Integration: Paradigmatic and Scholarly-Conceptual Aspects of Contemporary Legal Science Development

The relevance of this study is determined by Ukraine’s progress towards accession to the European Union. In this context, Ukraine cannot disregard the experience of other EU member states that have successfully integrated into the European Research Area. Moreover, the field of legal science is facing an increasing number of challenges whose effective resolution is impossible within the boundaries of the legal thinking that originally generated them. The purpose of the study is to examine the paradigmatic and scholarly-conceptual dimensions of the development of interdisciplinarity in Ukrainian legal science, in the context of the corresponding paradigmatic experience of Romania and Bulgaria, member states of the European Union. The research methodology is based on a combination of comparative legal, doctrinal, and interdisciplinary approaches for analyzing the development of legal science. The methodology of legal science is conceptualised as a discursive system integrating doctrinal-ideological, strategic, and instrumental components. The findings are aimed at substantiating the directions of methodological renewal of Ukrainian legal science in the context of European integration processes. The article explores the paradigmatic and scholarly-conceptual dimensions of interdisciplinarity in Ukrainian legal science through the comparative experience of Romania and Bulgaria as EU member states. The contours of scholarly maturity and methodological openness in legal science are identified, and the role of interdisciplinarity in shaping new approaches to legal research is clarified. It is emphasised that the scholarly-conceptual foundations of legal science encompass its academic level of development, methodological culture, and educational and research infrastructure. These elements serve as indicators of theoretical maturity and intellectual renewal. Ukrainian legal science should contribute to the consolidation of Ukrainian society and preserve its national and historical identity within the European Research Area, of which Ukraine is an integral part.