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The Making of Cossack UkrainePolitical Thought, Culture, and Identity Formation, 1569-1714 |
eBook Coming Soon
Examining the concepts of nation, state, and identity in the political thought of early modern Ukraine.
Both modern Ukrainian nationhood and the historical preconditions of the country’s contemporary conflict with Russia are rooted in a complex period of development in Cossack Ukraine. The Making of Cossack Ukraine traces the evolution of early modern Ukrainian political thought and culture from their sixteenth-century origins to 1714.
Early modern Ukraine was home to a multitude of interrelated political cultures, including those of the Ruthenian nobility, the Kyivan clergy, and the Cossacks. Zenon Kohut shows how constant interplay between these cultures contributed to the development of political, territorial, religious, ethnic, and national collective visions that reflected early modern concepts of nation, state, and identity. Two persistent narratives – the idea of Ukrainian autonomy and perpetual rights, and the idea of a continuous “Russian” tsardom stemming from medieval times – formed the foundation for not only Ukrainian state and nation building but also Russia’s modern identity and sense of nationhood, creating the ideological underpinning for Russian imperialism.
Based in a classical analysis of ethnic, religious, and political ideas developed by early modern Ukrainian intellectuals, The Making of Cossack Ukraine brings to light the origins of present-day Ukrainian political thought.
Early modern Ukraine was home to a multitude of interrelated political cultures, including those of the Ruthenian nobility, the Kyivan clergy, and the Cossacks. Zenon Kohut shows how constant interplay between these cultures contributed to the development of political, territorial, religious, ethnic, and national collective visions that reflected early modern concepts of nation, state, and identity. Two persistent narratives – the idea of Ukrainian autonomy and perpetual rights, and the idea of a continuous “Russian” tsardom stemming from medieval times – formed the foundation for not only Ukrainian state and nation building but also Russia’s modern identity and sense of nationhood, creating the ideological underpinning for Russian imperialism.
Based in a classical analysis of ethnic, religious, and political ideas developed by early modern Ukrainian intellectuals, The Making of Cossack Ukraine brings to light the origins of present-day Ukrainian political thought.
Details
636 Pages, 6 x 9
2 figures, 5 maps
ISBN 9780228019015
September 2025
Formats: Cloth, eBook
“The Making of Cossack Ukraine is the result of decades of work by one of the leading experts on the history of Cossack nation building, nation writing, and political thought. It is a much-needed contribution to the field and a work that will withstand the test of time.” Serhii Plokhy, Harvard University and author of The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires
“This book is the most comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of Cossack political culture to date. Kohut provides a revolutionary and novel perspective on the early forms of Ukrainian national identity and the cross-cultural relations between Ukraine and Russia.” Oleksii Sokyrko, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
“This book is the most comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of Cossack political culture to date. Kohut provides a revolutionary and novel perspective on the early forms of Ukrainian national identity and the cross-cultural relations between Ukraine and Russia.” Oleksii Sokyrko, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Zenon E. Kohut is professor emeritus at the University of Alberta.
