Course description
This course explores Ukraine from multiple and intersecting levels. It begins by asking students to think about Ukraine in the world, drawing on its most recent past to place Ukraine in the present. In particular, it focuses on Ukraine's geopolitical relationships with its neighbors and on major socioeconomic trends, such as neoliberal capitalism. We examine Ukraine as a nation state and consider key questions such as: what is the Ukrainian nation? Is Ukraine a democracy? Students consider how national identity and ideology are significant for understanding contemporary Ukraine. The course addresses the framing of regionalism in Ukraine, drawing on early arguments in Ukrainian studies dividing Ukraine into east and west, as well as on new research that resists such clear delineations. The course concludes at the local level, exploring the effects of new policies of decentralization on contemporary Ukraine.
