Gorban T. Evolution of the idea of national self-determination in Ukrainian sociopolitical thought at the end of the 19th - first quarter of the 20th century.

This dissertation represents a systemic scientific ethno-political study which, based on the analysis of a number of representative sources of mostly primary origin and application of modern methodological principles, generalizes the most characteristic trends in gradual development of the idea of national self-determination at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century which were reflected in documents of Ukrainian sociopolitical thought, scientific works, and social and political essays. The scope of the study includes determination of relation between the level of national conscience of the Ukrainians and possibilities of practical realization of the idea of national self-determination as the contemporary Ukrainian political thought perceived it. Patterns of gradual development of the self-determination idea driven by objective factors can be traced in this work: they range from the postulate of national and territorial autonomy within a democratic federal state to the political emancipation. Reasons which caused defeat of oppositional attempts by the nationally-oriented fraction of Ukrainian communists against the policy of centralization conducted by the Bolsheviks were systemized. Recommendations were proposed concerning theoretical elaborations and practical approaches in sphere of harmonization of inter-ethnic relations as a component of overall consolidation of the society.