Federalist Ideas in Ukrainian Politics

   After gaining sovereignty in 1991, the ideas of federalization were more or less present in the socio-political life of Ukraine at all stages of its development. This is a consequence and expression of the regionalism historically inherent in this country. However, despite the obvious presence of socio-cultural and economic regional differences, which allow us to draw parallels with such countries as Switzerland, Belgium, or Canada, where they were the objective basis of federalism, in Ukraine the federal principles of state structure were not implemented.

   The reasons for this are primarily related to the peculiarities of the internal political development of Ukraine, which predetermined the lack of real political and economic conditions for the implementation of the ideas of federalism in practice. In particular, all the leading political forces capable of advocating such a reform on a national scale have demonstrated their disinterest in the transition to a federal state system in various periods. The appeal to the ideas of federalism was for the most part a tool for mobilizing the electorate and became a convenient object for criticism from the Pro-Western and national-Patriotic political camp, which was especially evident during the «orange revolution» and in the subsequent period. It can also be stated that the basic ideas of federalism have not been consolidated at the level of mass consciousness in Ukraine. After 2014, the negative attitude towards of deralism has signifi cantly increased. In the context of the acute confl ict in the Donbas and the deep crisis of Russian-Ukrainian relations, the federalization of the country was presented by the ruling regime as a mechanism for destroying Ukrainian statehood, and calls for changing the state structure were actually criminalized. At the same time, due to the actualization of the manifestations of regionalism, certain elements of federalism were discussed in the framework of public discussions on the decentralization of the public administration system.

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