POLITICAL SCIENTISTS AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHERS have long been aware of the need to take contextual effects into consideration when analysing the determinants of political behaviour. Recent developments in both disciplines have pointed to the desirability of considering a range of different contexts at different levels (individual, local, regional, state, global) that work in different ways (via external environmental effects, social learning, the effects of differential information availability etc.). To explain adequately the impact of place on politics it is necessary to provide a convincing account of how hypothesised effects are understood to work and the level(s) at which they are believed to operate.' Region of residence is acknowledged to be one of the most significant cleavages in Ukrainian politics but, though numerous studies comment on this fact, few give convincing explanations for it. Many commentators assume that the well-known differences in political attitudes and voting behaviour across Ukraine's regions are simply the consequence of local variations in individual-level factors such as ethnicity, education level and occupational structure. Yet careful analyses of individual-level data reveal that even when socio-demographic attributes are controlled for, region still exerts an independent influence. Broadly speaking, residents of the industrialised and heavily Russian east of Ukraine have been found to be more left-wing and pro-Russian in their political orientations and voting proclivities, whereas those of the more agricultural and ethnic Ukrainian west of the country tend to favour market reforms and closer ties with the West.2 What this research has not made clear is the meaning of these regional differences. Most studies assume, either implicitly or explicitly, that regional differences which transcend individual characteristics can be traced to one of two causes: historical experience or regional economic conditions. Though both hypotheses are plausible, it is important to recognise that they involve two very different explanatory strategies. The main story behind the explanation of regional effects in historical terms draws on political culture arguments. It is posited that the marked differences in pre-Soviet political experiences among Ukraine's different regions have left lasting effects on these populations' perceptions of and reaction to Soviet collapse and transition toward market democracy. Because of their past incorporation into various Central European states and empires, so the argument goes, there is a tendency for western Ukrainians to perceive themselves to be 'Europeans' and to espouse 'European' views of political and economic processes, whereas eastern Ukrainians see themselves as being 'Eastern