History, Divisive Mistress

Abstract

This is an essay in search of the historical roots of the political polarization that has dogged Ukraine since independence in 1991. I am looking at long-term factors that have shaped Ukrainian political culture, to be presented thematically. The aim of these reflections is to explore why Ukrainian society contains a pro-Western, exclusivist Ukrainian nationalism as well as a pro-Russian, national indifferentism, and at times has swung between these -isms like a pendulum, unable to come to rest at a center.
This essay is aimed at readers with more than a passing familiarity with the history of Ukraine. I am using, as it were, historical shorthand, and so some readers might not register some of my points. I am, however, deliberately avoiding longer explanations of historical events and processes so as to bring to the fore the essentials of my argument.