Ukrainian Politics Research Articles

Promoting or Shattering Populism: The Case of Political Comedy and Satire in Ukrainian Media

ABSTRACT This paper inquires whether political comedy and satire, in which it is customary to articulate the centrality of ordinary citizens and disdain for elites, are bound to portray politicians and politics via populist lenses. It compares the joking about politics in Ukraine on two television shows in 2019–2020, soon after Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian turned politician, came to the presidency with populist narratives in 2019. The results demonstrate that whereas one of the shows, Vecherniy Kvartal, used populist framing of politics rather extensively, the other, called, bizarrely, #@)₴?$0, not only avoided it but even made populist rhetoric itself the target of jokes.

«Ukrainian crisis» of the Society of Marxist Historians

The article is devoted to the discussion that unfolded at the turn of the 1920s-30s between "Moscow" and "Ukrainian" historians on the principles of interaction between the Society of Marxist Historians at the Communist Academy and the Ukrainian Society of Marxist Historians. The study of the discussion allows us to come to the problem of building a model of interaction between the center and the regions in Soviet historical science. New documents from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences demonstrate that the Moscow Society of Marxist Historians, headed by M.N. Pokrovsky set a course to build a relatively centralized model, which was opposed by Ukrainian historians who defended the principles of national communism. The confrontation was open in nature, in which Ukrainian historians relied on the leadership of the Ukrainian SSR. During the so-called "Great Turning Point", a wave of political purges swept through, which hit the Ukrainian intelligentsia hard, among others. After that, the obstacles to the Society of Marxist Historians were removed. However, it also found itself in crisis due to the death of its leader, M.N. Pokrovsky. The fruits of the discussion have already been "reaped" by other institutions: first, the Institute of History at the Communist Academy, and then the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The consequences of the "Ukrainian crisis" were massive. The opponents of building a centralized model of historical science, in which the republican centers were subordinate to the Moscow ones, were eliminated. This directly affected the process of creating the histories of the peoples of the USSR: the overcoming of the territorial historical and cultural approach, associated primarily with the Ukrainian political and intellectual elite, began, and projects appeared to create not individual histories of the republics, but the all-Union history of the USSR.

How War Is Rebordering Ukraine

Ukraine’s border regions have been long associated with the country’s cultural and linguistic diversity, but also with political cleavages and alternative geopolitical orientations. The annexation of Crimea by Russia and the military conflict in Donbas violently reshaped Ukraine’s eastern borderlands and led to alienation between the two countries. At the same time, the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and visa-free regime facilitated the growing reorientation of Ukrainian society toward Europe. The 2022 Russian invasion, occupation of further Ukrainian territories and mass displacement intensified these trends. While the war is forging the country together, it is experienced in very different ways in its regions, and these collective experiences will matter for postwar Ukrainian politics.

Galicia and Donbass as Ideal models of regional identity: sociocultural roots of the confrontation between Western and Eastern Ukraine

The article examines ideal models of regional identity in Ukraine – Galicia and Donbass. It is emphasised that Ukraine, having become a sovereign state and appeared on the political map of the world in 1991, faced the problem of a pronounced mosaic of regions. Individual regions were included in Ukraine already formed as distinctive entities with stable features of culture and way of life of the population. The authors emphasise that on the territory of Ukraine there coexisted a number of territorial complexes that were rather weakly connected with each other, and their subordination to various states due to frequent changes in borders determined their complex interaction. The processes of changing the political affiliation of regions actualise the identification issue, and identity in such conditions turns into a kind of demiurge of reality and can act as the main, and sometimes the only source of meanings. The declaration of independence by Ukraine actualised historically formed contradictions, previously existing mainly latently. The article proves the existence of socio-cultural regions, unique ethno-territorial communities, creating a continuum with a clearly expressed dichotomy - Donbass and Galicia. Beginning from the first years of Ukraine's independence, the image of the new independent country as a great European power, the formation of which has always been hindered and continues to be hindered by Russia, was actively introduced into the consciousness of citizens. That is, a project was promoted based on Galician nationalism (with an emphatically Russophobic basis) and the concept of the "titular Ukrainian nation". In turn, regionalist sentiments in the Eastern Ukraine showed that regional identity can have great potential for the social integration of citizens. Since the 1990s, Donbass has often acted as an object of deliberate "otherness" on the part of the Ukrainian political and cultural elite, which was a contrasting background in the context of the practices of national construction in Ukraine. The authors conclude that the formation of Ukrainian national identity was carried out in a very contradictory manner and was characterised by a clear dominance of regional identity in the Eastern Ukraine against the background of the total promotion of the Galician project, and since 2014, its promotion has been carried out by armed means. However, the violent desire to level the regional identity of the inhabitants of the Eastern Ukraine launched the process of secession of the region - the self-proclamation of the DPR and LPR and their subsequent inclusion in the Russian Federation in 2022.

The religious dimension of Russia's war against Ukraine: the context of national security

The author highlights the current problems of the Ukrainian state in the context of Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine. The importance of studying the religious factor and its impact on Ukraine's national security is substantiated. It is shown how, with the “spiritual” support of its original assistant, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine in the guise of the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) has been actively proclaiming the “gathering of Russian lands” for decades. This “hostile tandem” has been building a “Russian world” on Ukrainian territory with intolerance to everything Ukrainian, pursuing a collaborationist policy in Ukraine, lobbying for Russia's interests, and becoming an important tool for influencing the minds of a large number of people. With the restoration of the independence of the Ukrainian state, Orthodoxy was supposed to become a consolidating factor in the creation of the Ukrainian nation. Instead, for decades, the UOC-MP has been constantly deconsolidating Ukrainian society, sowing church discord, and discrediting Ukraine's political and spiritual leadership in the international arena. Such activities have resulted in not only the territorial but also the spiritual occupation of our country. It is concluded that the concept of the “Russian world”, cultivated for years in Ukraine by the Kremlin through its “Orthodox” structures of the Russian Orthodox Church and the UOC-MP, was mainly the basis for the invasion of Ukrainian territories by the occupiers, which later escalated into a large-scale national liberation war in 2022. The study used data from sociological services, official documents of church institutions, and analyzed Ukrainian legislation on related issues. Certain provisions of the study can be used to further analyze the activities and spheres of influence of the Moscow Patriarchate in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Mediatization and Mystique. Volodymyr Zelensky’s Self-Presentation on Instagram

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This study uses mediatization theory and Goffman’s concept of self-presentation to explain the inseparable role of social media in the rise of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukrainian politics and, since the Russian invasion, world consciousness. From the start, his political persona has been governed far more by media logic than political calculation, although the former has translated into the latter. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The analysis explores how Zelensky develops an iconic communication style through visual framing and other mediation techniques. Towards this end, we conduct a visual content analysis of images posted to his official Instagram account across three points in time: his candidacy, presidency before the invasion, and first year of the invasion. 100 images are sampled from each time period and subjected to detailed visual and nonverbal analysis. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Employing framing theory and Goffman’s notion of self-presentation, the study explains the Ukrainian leader’s skillful use of visual and nonverbal messaging to project an image of an everyman president and, beginning with the February 2022 invasion, emergent soldier-in-chief. The analysis also shows how specific visual appeals (e.g., facial expressions, Ukrainian symbols) and background settings influence Zelensky’s presentation over time. RESEARCH RESULTS: Results show how the inclusion of more political, and then diplomatic and military, elites in posts during his presidency and year one of the invasion positions Zelensky as a recognized leader while solidifying his status as soldier-in-chief. Indeed, the ubiquity and universality of his soldier persona have become a widely recognized symbol of the fight for democratic freedom. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The study illustrates how Zelensky utilizes social media, Instagram in particular, as a platform for compelling self-presentation while communicating a message of national unity and resolve. His ubiquitous media presence has introduced a new perspective on leadership during wartime.

How Murals Support Ukraine: Eastern Ukraine-Themed Murals Resembling Berlin Wall Murals

In 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych suspended a trade pact between Ukraine and the EU, which led to the Euromaidan protests and violence from armed police. Since then, muralists have recorded the reality of Ukrainian politics and the growth of Ukrainians’ national identity. Through an exploration of art history, sociology, and the history of Ukraine, this research paper serves as an initial investigation of how newly created murals in Ukraine and past murals on the Berlin Wall convey the same theme of battle against communism and share similarity in the growth process. This paper’s comparative analysis was conducted in three stages: an examination of the art’s initial transformation from graffiti to mural form, an analysis of the works’ emphasis on patriotism, and an exploration of the portrayal of minorities, designed to attract an international audience. Findings indicate that murals depicting conflicts in Ukraine have the potential to reinforce Ukrainians, much as murals on the Berlin Wall were crucial in reunifying Germany during the Cold War.

Ukrainian versus Pan‐Russian Identities: The Roots of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

AbstractThis article critically analyses commonly used descriptions of Ukrainian politics as divided between ‘nationalist’ versus ‘pro‐Russian’, and ‘ethnic’ versus ‘civic’ forces which do not adequately explain Ukrainian politics or understand the roots of Russian military aggression against Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. An alternative framework is provided of competition between Ukrainian identity, which believes Ukrainians are a distinct people different to Russians, and pan‐Russian identity, which believes Russians and Ukrainians are ‘fraternal brothers’ who have always been and always will be united in the Russian World. The Euromaidan Revolution, Russian military aggression in 2014, increasing domination of Ukrainian identity policies and weakness of pro‐Russian political parties led to the progressive marginalisation of pan‐Russian identity in Ukraine. The marginalisation of pan‐Russian identity and unwillingness of Presidents Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to implement the Russian version of the 2014‐2015 Minsk Accords, which would have transformed Ukraine into a Russian satellite, led to the Kremlin's decision to launch a full‐scale invasion on 24 February 2022. The goals of Russia's full‐scale invasion were and remain regime change (i.e., installation of a pro‐Russian puppet regime), destruction of Ukrainian identity (i.e., de‐nazification) and its replacement with a hegemonic pan‐Russian identity in a truncated (i.e., without Crimea and New Russia [southeast Ukraine]) Little Russian satellite controlled by Russia (i.e., de‐militarisation).

The Impact of the War with Russia on Domestic Politics in Ukraine

This analytical paper explores the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukrainian politics and society since 2022. The war has reshaped the political landscape, solidifying existing power structures while bringing military veterans and social organizations to the forefront. The role of Ukrainian oligarchs has diminished due to financial setbacks and the “anti-oligarch law,” though some are adapting through charitable activities. Additionally, the Ukrainian government is curtailing the influence of the Moscow-affiliated church as part of a broader decolonization effort. The article also examines how the conflict has accelerated Ukraine’s drive for EU and NATO integration, with rising public support fostering domestic reforms and anti-corruption measures.

GEOGRAPHY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO DECISION- MAKING IN FOREIGN POLICY (RUSSIA AND UKRAINE MODEL)

Geography is the science that studies all natural and human phenomena in one place Geography studies the natural factors that affected the land inhabited by man, Describes human populations in terms of their relationship to the environment Political geography is the study of political units and their problems from the point of view of geography, The survey studies the relief and climate areas that affect the conditions of states and the phenomena in them. As for the political decision, it is very measure that the state takes to prevent any interference in the affairs of its society, and the political decision is formulated in a thoughtful way to solve a specific problem or crisis that passes in the country The process of making and implementing decisions goes through multiple stages, starting with the preparatory stage, identifying the variables related to the problem to be studied,then choosing the goal and drawing the strategy (identifying alternatives),then comes the decision-making stage, i.e. translating the decision into practical reality through actions, activities and work programs, Responsibility for the decision-making process is borne by a group of official and non-official bodies, the official bodies the constitution,then the legislative and executive authorities As for the unofficial bodies, they include political parties,pressure groups, and public opinion, for political decisions to be correct, they must serve the public interest,be built on scientific foundation, and take in to account the objective circumstances..objective circumstances. Ukraine experienced a state of internal crises after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as crises became represented by the dissolution of parliament and re-elections,which are frequent and accelerating events, As the international Monetary Fund provided aid to reform the economic conditions of Ukraine after the transitional period it passed through,Ukraine became the coveted country and an open field for occupation by powerful countries. This is due to the weakness of Ukrainian politics. Ukraine distinguished location, which made it control the center of land and sea transportation between Asia and Europe, Russia decided that it was difficult to leave Ukraine to the west so Russia intervened militarily under the transfer from the Russian parliament on 28\2\2014 to protect Russian minorities and maintain influence in the city of Sevastopol, which is the last base in Crimea, The motive of the attack was to protect the region from the interference of other countries, to realize the dream of Russian to get on ports in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, and to save world trade routes where Russia's ships have been frozen for months in the Arctic annually. Russia made the decision to attack Ukraine, and the first thing it started was the bombing of the Donbas region, which is located in eastern Ukraine, which is characterized by its mineral wealth and the presence of coal mines, and thus Russia worked to create a state of paralysis in the airports located in eastern and northern Ukraine

Russian invasion of Ukraine in the Italian media coverage

Introduction. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Italy, which has long had close economic, political and cultural ties with Russia, has found itself in a situation of some social and political imbalance. The presence of different, even opposing, views was reflected in the media: some publications have adopted an openly pro-Ukrainian position, while others have taken an openly anti-NATO position, if not openly pro-Russian, providing information about the causes, course and possible solutions to the war in accordance with these positions. Relevance and purpose. The relevance of the study lies in the need to research the narratives of the Italian press about the Russian-Ukrainian war. The purpose of the article is to outline the vision of the Russian-Ukrainian war in one of the leading Italian newspapers “La Repubblica”. The research methodology involves a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the publications of the website and the archive of issues of “La Repubblica” in the period from 24.02.2022 to 1.05.2022. The systematisation method allowed to systematise the results obtained during the automated research, the generalisation method – to draw conclusions of research. Results. A qualitative analysis of publications shows that news reports related to Ukraine on the La Repubblica website since the beginning of the Russian invasion have been published in a separate daily publication “The Russia-Ukraine War, News for [date]”. The total number of mentions in the publications using the keyword “war Ukraine” using the automatic search is 7,767 mentions. The most frequently used phrases were selected from this array and grouped into 8 thematic blocks: “Zelenskyy”, “refugees”, “Mariupol”, “Russian troops”, “Bucha”. It has been found that only a small proportion of publications on the pages and website of “La Repubblica” contain the terms “Nazis” and “neo-Nazis”. Conclusions. Based on the data processing results, it was found that the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” covers information about the Russian-Ukrainian war using frames of a war for democratic values, where Ukraine and its population is considered to be a victim of unmotivated aggression of Russia Federation, and Ukrainian politicians are portrayed as new symbols of humanistic values. There is an attempt to avoid focusing on acute issues related to Ukraine or internal Ukrainian politics, which can be partially defined as “pro-Ukrainian” propaganda. The findings are important for the inclusion of Italian media in the broader framework of European media coverage of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Regional Political Elites: The Post-Soviet Order of Ukrainian Politics

Regional Political Elites: The Post-Soviet Order of Ukrainian Politics

Case Study of De-Russification of Ukrainian Hodonyms

The 2022 outbreak of the Russian full-scale war against Ukraine has led to a reassessment of memory politics in Ukraine. The erasure of communist symbols or “decommunization” has evolved into a decolonization process of de-Russificationin in which Russian cultural symbols, including toponyms, are removed from the symbolic space. This article presents the results of a mixed method investigation of Ukrainian hodonyms to shed light on the effects of war on a nation’s postcolonial toponymic legacy. We argue that de-Russification in Ukraine is a case of national “toponymic cleansing”. Simultaneously, this process may be interpreted as an act of restorative justice following cultural colonization. The findings indicate that posttransitional rethinking of place names in Ukraine is still strongly bounded by the effect of scale, and specific approaches to de-Russification are largely dependent on the local historical, cultural, and geopolitical context.

The Making of a Nation-state: Unification of National Identity in Post Independent Ukraine

The paper explicates the hard-won unity of Ukrainian national identity. Contrary to the concerted determination that Ukrainians displayed in the war with Russia, Ukrainians national identity was fragmented in most of its post-independent history. It reviewed a wide range of polls, surveys, and literature in history and Ukrainian politics with special focus on the different critical moments of identity change in post-independent Ukraine. The paper found that Ukrainians and Russophones living in this country used to have divergent national imaginations from Ukraines independence to the Euromaidan revolution in 2014. However, Russias assertive policy to Ukraine, including the annexation of Crimea and support to the Civil War in Donbas since 2014, drove Ukrainians of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds to gradually put down their divisions and unify again as a nation-state. The identity unification finally completed in the Russo-Ukrainian war that Ukrainian became the predominant national identity of all groups in this country.

Unfinished revolutions: The post‐Soviet crisis of governance in Ukraine

AbstractNone of the three revolutions in Ukraine's modern history as an independent state has been able to both solve the problem of political representation and undertake the task of building sustainable democratic institutions. Ukraine's scores from the Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) between 2000 and 2019 show the ups and downs of state capacity and democratic accountability and illustrate not only how the revolutions remain unfinished but also how the country seems to be unable to consistently advance state formation. Ukraine has yet to find a stable developmental path. Accordingly, BGI scores show that Ukrainian politics and society continue to have difficulty advancing towards a corridor of good governance, where state capacity and accountability reinforce each other and enhance public goods provision. Instead, Ukraine is alternating between authoritarian and democratic development patterns. However, the Russian invasion that began on 24 February 2022 has contributed to uniting and consolidating Ukrainian society and politics and could considerably push the nation‐building process forward.

Książę Adam Jerzy Czartoryski i jego stronnicy w świetle historiografii ukraińskiej

Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and his political camp in the light of Ukrainian historiography In 1937, the Warsaw historian Marceli Handelsman published a work entitled Ukraińska polityka ks. Adama Czartoryskiego przed wojną krymską [Ukrainian politics of Prince Adam Czartoryski before the Crimean War]. So far, this book has been used by historians as the primary source of information on the Ukrainian issue in the views of the Hotel Lambert’s leader. The author of this text has decided to collect Ukrainian works referring to the topic inaugurated by Handelsman. Unfortunately, no larger study has been prepared on the Ukrainian side. However, a number of articles and encyclopaedic notes showing Prince Adam and his Eastern policy (especially during his stay at the court of Tsar Alexander I Romanov) has been published. Ukrainian authors paid much more attention to Czartoryski’s associates, who tried to put his ideas into practice. Ukrainian researchers wrote mainly about Michał Czaykowski (Sadyk Pasha) organizing the Cossack troops in the Ottoman Empire, about Hipolit Terlecki striving for the union of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, and finally about the ethnographer and writer Franciszek Duchiński clearly separating Ukraine from Russia in his writings.

MIDDLE CLASS IN UKRAINE: GOVERNMENT OR OPPOSITION?

MIDDLE CLASS IN UKRAINE: GOVERNMENT OR OPPOSITION?

Забезпечення принципу права на захист в Україні

The principle of the right to protection is crucial for upholding human rights, promoting social justice, and strengthening the rule of law in Ukraine. This article highlights the relevance of researching and addressing the challenges and opportunities in ensuring this right in Ukraine. It examines the country's political, social, and legal transformations, conflicts, and aspirations for European integration. The article explores Ukraine's legal framework, measures taken, and progress made in ensuring the right to protection, including the independence of the judiciary, access to justice, legal aid programs, and prevention of arbitrary detention or treatment. However, challenges such as corruption, delays in court proceedings, limited access to justice, conflict-affected areas, and societal attitudes persist. Addressing these challenges requires ongoing efforts, including judicial reforms, resource allocation, public awareness campaigns, conflict resolution, and human rights education. This research contributes to the broader discussions on human rights and the rule of law in transitional and post-conflict societies and informs strategies for promoting the right to protection worldwide. The article emphasizes the significance of the research topic by examining Ukraine's political, social, and legal transformations in recent years. These transformations have presented challenges related to the rule of law, corruption, and human rights protection. By focusing on the right to protection, researchers can assess the progress made, identify gaps and shortcomings, and provide insights into areas that require attention and improvement. This evaluation serves as a tool to measure the effectiveness of legal reforms, policy initiatives, and institutional changes undertaken in Ukraine to ensure the protection of individuals' rights. The relevance of this research topic is further underscored by Ukraine's ongoing conflicts and security concerns. The war and annexation of Ukrainian territories have resulted in human rights violations, displacement, and the need for accountability and justice. By examining the right to protection, researchers can explore the impact of these conflicts on individuals' rights, assess the measures taken to address the resulting challenges, and evaluate the extent to which the right to protection is upheld in Ukraine.

Pride Contested

This article explores Pride politics in post-Maidan Ukraine from queer feminist and decolonial perspectives. It aims to understand how the location of Ukraine on the fringes of two imperial formations, namely the global West and Russian imperialism, shapes Pride and its consequences for LGBT communities and broader society. The authors introduce the concept of buffer periphery as an analytic lens that focuses critically on both imperial formations simultaneously, while tracing naturalized colonial discourses. The first part of the article analyzes the material-symbolic framing of Kyiv Pride marches in the context of the NGO-ization of LGBT activism, police reform, the war in Donbas, and the corresponding militarization of Ukrainian society and the region at large. The analysis is focused on how West-centered geopolitics of liberation and the Euro-oriented aspirations of the Ukrainian government work together to animate Pride politics and instrumentalize them. The second part closely examines the case of the Queer Anarcho-Feminist Block at the 2017 Kyiv Pride, considering it an attempt decolonial resistance to neoliberalization and militarization of Pride and LGBT politics in Ukraine. The article suggests that the resulting outcome of Kyiv Pride marches with respect to broader LGBT communities in Ukraine is rather ambiguous. While acknowledging its influence on public opinion and media discourse as well as its personal significance for many community members, the authors offer a critical perspective on Kyiv Pride as a vehicle and an effect of the colonial geopolitics of liberation. It remains unclear to what extent Kyiv Pride challenged homophobia and transphobia, let alone capitalist and racist regimes of power, or if it perhaps just converted the idea of LGBT liberation into a homocapitalist project of producing loyal sexual citizens.

Development of Ukrainian political and legal thought in Galicia in the interwar period (1918-1939)

The article provides a historical and legal analysis of the formation and development of Ukrainian political and legal thought in Galicia in the interwar period. The methodology includes the analysis of the narrative base, as well as the intellectual heritage of Western Ukrainian politicians and thinkers, followed by generalization and formulation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. For the objectivity of the research, a complex of general scientific, special-legal, special-historical and philosophical methods of scientific knowledge, as well as the principles of objectivity, historicism, systematicity and comprehensiveness, were used. The results. The state of the research was established and the degree of development of the topic was clarified. The socio-economic, political and legal factors and peculiarities of the formation of the national-state ideology in the western Ukrainian lands are characterized. In the interwar period (1918-1939), the political and legal ideas of restoring Ukrainian statehood in Galicia differed significantly from the political concepts of the pre-war period. This was caused both by the consequences of the national revolution of 1918-1923 and by changes in the intellectual environment of Ukrainian politics. This period became one of the most productive for the Ukrainian political and legal thought of Galicia, because the works written at this time reflected the possibilities of combining theoretical analysis with the experience of state building in 1918-1920. Their authors thought not only about what ways to win independence, but also tried to substantiate the principles of self-organization of the Ukrainian community, outline the principles of the future Ukrainian independent cathedral state.
 The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the fact that for the first time in the article a historical and legal analysis of the development of political and legal thought in Galicia is carried out, the stages and directions of its formation in the interwar period are determined. Practical significance. The results of the research can be used in further historical and legal investigations, preparation of special courses.