Ukraine’s Future History

Abstract

Abstract This concluding chapter draws larger conclusions from the preceding chapters and discusses what we can say now about Ukraine's future. It examines how Zelensky himself emphasizes the importance of knowing history for best shaping the country's future, and points out that he has helped strengthen Ukrainian civic identity by emphasizing people's common historical experiences as Ukrainian as the core of national identity (more so than any specific language or religion). This vision of identity also does not depend on having an enemy; it is strong and resistant to Russia whether or not Russia is emphasized as the "Other." Zelensky's high wartime popularity cannot be expected to continue even with full victory over Russia, and data reveals that potent domestic rivalries lurk under the surface, ready to reemerge when democratic competition returns in peacetime. These divisions, though, are not "ethnic" or "regional," but instead more akin to partisan differences in many Western democracies. Major threats do exist to Ukraine's democratic future, and these come from both sides (including Zelensky's) in different ways. But so also does victory present major opportunities for a bright and democratic future for Ukraine.