Synthetic Dimensions of the Potential of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic

Abstract

The article analyzes the specifics of synthetic measurements of state potential on the example of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR). The author of the study suggests that modeling the potential of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic will enable modern historiography of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1914–1923 to elucidate the morphology of state power by elucidating the nature of political power, the functioning of the state body, its strategic goals, etc. in its western Ukrainian segment. The main research models of Western scientists of the second half of the 20 – early 21th centuries are clarified on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the state’s potential, in particular in the field of international relations: Clifford Herman, Wilhelm Fucks, Ray Klein and Ahmet Davutoğlu. The potential of the WUPR is also considered on the basis of studying the models of gravity, stratification and escalation / de-escalation, which made it possible to clarify the WUPR’s place in the system of international relations and collective security of the early 20th century. It is established that the model of gravity in the case of Western Ukraine diplomacy, in particular during its emigration period, can only partially indicate a certain cultural and / or ideological influence on the balance of international relations, and the “gravitational field” of Western Ukraine was in postwar Europe. An important feature of the stratification model is the prestige of the WUPR in the international arena, which has become the only and common interest of the united Ukrainian People’s Republic. The model of escalation / de-escalation in the realities of Western Ukraine shows that this Ukrainian state and foreign policy activity in the coordinate system of contemporary international relations was located between two points – between absolute peace and absolute war – in the context of the Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918–1919 for Eastern Galicia. According to the author, the most logical in relation to the imagined model of the potential of the WUPR was the escalation from the point of view of the stronger side (Poles), in particular in view of the escalation of armaments. It acted in conditions of asymmetric imbalance: the weaker side (Ukrainians) shifted the “difficulty” of escalation to ideological and moral-ideological problems.