Vermenych, Yaroslava. Ideas of local spatiality in Mykhailo Drahomanov’s projects of self-government. Text data. Kyiv: Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2026. 96 p. Data size: 0,77 Mb.
URL: https://resource.history.org.ua/book/en/0019442
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/book17-0019442

Abstract

The brochure presents ideas of local spatiality in Drahomanov’s socio-political projects, ideas that underpin his theories of decentralization and local self-government, which were aimed at building a democratic state and ensuring the personal freedom of citizens. Local spatiality is interpreted as a strategic resource for self-governance and a tool for the development of territorial communities, which determines the capacity of a local community to shape its identity independently and to reproduce the shared norms and values that foster social cohesion within a specific territory. The text analyzes Drahomanov’s strategies aimed at understanding local spatiality as the foundation for society’s free progress and the basis of a community’s governing powers. It also highlights his approaches to developing comprehensive models of local self-government that laid the groundwork for the formation of the Ukrainian political nation. It is noted that Drahomanov was among the first to substantiate the significance of local space as the basic level for implementing local self-government strategies in the context of the European development of Ukrainian society. A key element of his concept of local self-government was the priority of local spatiality, realized through the functions of an independent economic and political structure based on the territorial community. In his vision, the community served as the cornerstone of the economic and administrative independence of local communities and was endowed with political and cultural autonomy, thereby transforming territorial structures into full-fledged constituent units of a federative system. In Drahomanov’s view, the space of the Ukrainian nation was to be shaped through the cultural and educational work of free communities acting as centers of enlightenment with established local identities. Drawing on the ideas of hromada-based self-government, Drahomanov formulated a concept of local spatiality in which the territorial community is the fundamental element of society and the state, and local self-government is recognized as the sole guarantee of free social development. The concept of local spatiality not only interprets Drahomanov’s intellectual legacy but also symbolizes the drama of his life and creative path. Through the paradigm of local spatiality, one can clearly define the essential dichotomy of Drahomanov’s life drama and portray it as the thinker’s tragic existential duality. While his intellectual horizon encompassed all of Europe, his actual opportunities were confined within the limits of local, colonial, or provincial spaces that lacked both the resources and the political will to embrace and implement his innovative ideas. Forced extraterritoriality and the quest for a space of his own haunted him throughout his life. It was precisely through the concept of a free and self-sufficient community that he sought to intellectually reconstruct and “defend” the local Ukrainian space, despite being physically far removed from it. It is emphasized that Drahomanov’s vision of local spatiality was an intellectual precursor to the current decentralization reform in Ukraine. His ideas outlined principles now reflected in the European Charter of Local Self-Government, demonstrating that a strong state is impossible without self-sufficient, legally aware, and active local communities. In the context of seeking effective models for the territorial structuring of Ukraine, Drahomanov’s principles of local spatiality can serve as a conceptual foundation for a renewed vision of the role of locality in optimizing societal processes and developing innovative strategies for building civil society.