VIEWS OF THE NATIONAL ELITE OF THE COSSACK ERA ON THE MONARCHICAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT
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Дата
2024
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Видавець
ЕUROPEAN SOCIO-LEGAL AND HUMANITARIAN STUDIES
Анотація
At the present time, when the Ukrainian state is going through
a difficult process of defending its independence, it is important to study the
historical origins of our statehood, which shows the process of state formation
in Ukraine. Specifically, it is important to understand the historical experience
of the Cossack statehood during the latter half of the seventeenth century,
including the challenges it faced in terms of foreign policy and international
relations.
In the mid-17th century, Europe underwent a period of social and political
development marked by the formation of national states and the establishment
of bourgeois relations. Ukraine was not exempt from these pan-European
processes. The Ukrainian liberation struggle aimed to create an independent
Ukrainian state and introduce new social and economic relations based on
small-scale (in fact, farmer-type) Cossack ownership of land. During the latter
half of the 17th century, the Cossack state was divided between two forms of
government due to the hetmans’ desire to establish a monarchy. However, the
Cossacks’ senior officers (starshyna) firmly adhered to republican principles,
primarily defending their own class interests. This article aims to elucidate the
unique characteristics of the political culture of the Cossack officers and their
inclination towards establishing a monarchical form of government.
Опис
.The history of the formation and functioning of the Ukrainian
Cossack state demonstrates that the tendency to establish a monarchical
form of government throughout the history of the Ukrainian Hetmanate has
consistently existed, and that there have been sufficient grounds and factors for
its realization. However, this tendency, existing at the level of real possibility, has
never been able to materialize. This was prevented, firstly, by the initial lack of
strong political and cultural positions in the minds of the political elite regarding
the establishment of a monarchy on the basis of the office of the hetman,
regardless of specific individuals—more or less successful carriers. The struggle
between the hetman and local authorities, represented by groups of officers
representing particular interests, and the central government, represented by
the hetman as an exponent of public interests, was a significant factor. The latter
factor cannot be considered in isolation from foreign policy circumstances. As
evidenced by the historical experience of European independent states, the
struggle between central and local authorities within the framework of the
internal political process inevitably resulted in the triumph of monarchism.
However, the intervention of the foreign policy factor of Russian monarchism
in this struggle deprived the Ukrainian monarchist trend of opportunities for
practical implementation.
It is important to note that the perception of the elite of the Ukrainian land
in general and their estates in particular as liberated, won by the knightly law
of the sword, rather than begged for and granted by the royal favor, became
the basis for the formation of a monarchical form of government in Ukraine
based on the European model. This is confirmed by both historical facts and
political and cultural orientations recorded in documents.