The Development of Ukrainian National Identity

Absztrakt

Development of contemporary Ukrainian national identity was largely influenced the fact that throughout the centuries Ukrainian territories had become double, then triple spheres of power. Uniting Ukrainian territories within the framework of a unitary and sovereign state lasted centuries to be complete, with particular Ukrainian regions being included in the group of states possessing differing culture and political structures. One of the main reasons for Ukraine’s divide might very well be the very fact that it failed to inherit a unitary national indentity, meaning that its western territories were relatively more ”mature”, while the eastern ones proved to be ”lagging behind. Among Eastern- Ukrainians with Russian bonding for long centuries, a Russian, or Soviet version sense of identity has evolved. However, in Western Ukraine, and within that principally in Galicia, where a ”more developed” national indentiy has evolved as compared to eastern regions in the Habsburg bond, a sovereign Ukrainian national identity independent from the Russian pattern had taken shape.