History of Ukraine

Chubina Anastasiya (Cherkassy)

Interethnic relations in Ukraine (1990s – early 2000s years)

Ethnic Ukrainians inhabit central and western regions of Ukraine compactly. Here their share ranges from 80 to 95 % (the most mono-ethnic areas are Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivs’k regions, where among the population the Ukrainians are 96,3 and 95 % respectively). Closer to the borders of Ukraine the ethnic composition of the population is mixed more strongly. There are less compact settlements of Ukrainians. This is particularly evident in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine. For instance, the Ukrainians constitute 25,8 % of the population in the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, 54,6 % – in the Odesa region, 50,7 %, 51,9 % and 62,8 % respectively – in the eastern areas – in the Donets’k, Luhans’k and Kharkiv regions.

The settlement structure of the Ukrainian nation changed drastically for the last decades. In 1970 63,4 % Ukrainians were rural residents, but in 1990 they were less than 40 %.

The numerical relationship between the main ethnic population and their diaspora array structures are constantly changing. Thus, from 1719 to 1989 in the modern borders of the country the share of Ukrainians decreased from 85,6 to 73 %, and in the countries of the western Europe – from 6,6 to 1,1 %. At the same time in the American continent (from 1897 to 1989) it increased from 0,6 to 3.1 %. The total number of Ukrainians in the world in 1719 increased from 5,74 to 46,2 millions.

The second largest ethnic group of Ukraine is Russians – 11,4 million (22,1 % of its population). Most Russians live in the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea (67 % of the population), in the South and in the East of the country. In the Luhans’k, Donets’k, Odesa, Kherson and Zaporishya regions Russians constitute from 44,8 to 27,4 % of the population. In the central regions the number of Russians is less: in the Zhytomyr region – 8 %, the Kyiv one – 8,7 (in Kyiv – 21 %), the Poltava one – 10,2 %, the Kirovohrad one – 11,7 %, the Dnipropetrovs’k one – 24,2 %. The least Russians live in the western part of Ukraine (in the Ternopil region their share is 2.3 %).

The majority of Russians who live in Ukraine are urban residents (88 % of the total number). More than half of the Russians who live in Ukraine (56,7 %) are its natives.

The third largest ethnic group of Ukraine is Belarusians, the share of whom constitute about 0,9 % of the total population of the country. In the fourth place the Jews are, in the fifth – the Moldovans.

Ukraine has some problems in the sphere of the interethnic relations though not so acute as in other states of the CIS. First of all, the relationships between the most numerous ethnic groups that were described earlier form the climate of the interethnic relations in our society.

The ethnic situation in Ukraine in the 90s years of the 20^th century is characterized by such tendencies as: the reduction of the share of the Ukrainians in the population of the country (up to 72,7 % in 1990) and the increasing number of ethnic minorities (27,3 %); the limited sphere of the usage of the Ukrainian language, the division of the population into three big groups: the Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians (40 %), the Russian-speaking Ukrainians (35 %) and the Russian-speaking Russians; the difference in the social structure of the population of different parts of the state according to the language people speak: in the eastern areas 80-90 % of the population live in the cities, in the central and southern areas 55-65 % of the population is urban, and in the western Ukraine the rural population dominate (in the Transcarpathia its share constitute 85 %); the presence of different political sympathies in these regions: in the east part of the country people support communist, socialist parties and the party of farmers, in the west – radical and moderate nationalists and democrats.

Some scientists even use a new term “political geography of Ukraine” (for instance, during the presidential elections in 1994 L. Kuchma didn’t get the majority in any of the 12 regions west from the Chernihiv, Poltava and Kirovohrad ones and L. Kravchuk – in any of the other 12 regions of the East and South of Ukraine and the Crimea; the presidential elections in 2010 also showed that the electorate of the oppositional parties was concentrated in the West of the country).

There is even a belief that the entire population of Ukraine can’t be called the Ukrainian nation yet because only the part of it can be characterized by the features that are essential in the definition of the “nation”.

In this regard, it should be focused on such a concept as “ethnic (national) identity” (intentional assigning themselves to a particular national community, identification with it). This feature is subjective in nature and it is this subjectivity is sometimes an argument against its importance. In fact, about the nation as a real and well-functioning community, it can be spoken only when the objective signs (common territory, language, economic life) are supplemented with a distinct national identity. Until the ethnic consciousness is kept, until there is ethnicity. If not you can only speak about the ethnic origin of people, rather than their ethnicity.

There are indicators that make it possible to determine confidently the level and the status of the ethnic identity. Among them there is the knowledge of the history of their people (historical memory), the attitude to the national traditions and holidays, to the language of their ethnic group, the sense of the national identity and so on. But the main of them is, perhaps, the recognition of the difference between them and the representatives of other nationalities on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the realization of the close connection of their “I” with the life and the destiny of the definite ethnic group.

In the eastern part of our country the majority of the population consider themselves Russians but in the Transcarpathia there live many people who consider themselves as a separate ethnic group “Russyns” which is different from Ukrainian one.

Interesting data were obtained during the survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in December 1997. Among the respondents of Ukraine only 56 % described themselves as Ukrainians, 11 % – Russians and 26 % said that they belonged to both the Ukrainian and Russian ethnic groups.

A peculiar fact is that the majority of the population of Ukraine focuses not on the Ukrainian or Russian cultures only, but the Ukrainian and Russian ones at the same time. Perhaps, that is why the question “What language should be broadcast on Ukrainian television and radio?” posed by the sociological service “SOCIS-GALLUP” in 2003 50 % of the respondents answered that there should be channels that broadcast simultaneously in both languages. Ukrainian channels supported 24 % of the population and Russian ones – 13 %.

In practical terms, the problem of communication between Ukrainian-speaking people and Russian-speaking ones doesn’t exist. The proximity of languages gives an opportunity to understand each other easily. The question of the “SOCIS-GALLUP” “What do you think separates people in our society?” only 2 % answered “the language of communication” and 4 % – “national independency”. This indicates the tolerance of the citizens of Ukraine in the sphere of the international relations.

As sociological researches showed the majority of the population of Ukraine doesn’t care the sphere of the interethnic relations but the language issue.

Ukraine under the Constitution is a unitary state, the idea of the federal government (that exists in many democratic countries which have ethno-social, linguistic and economic differences between its regions) do not find the support for parliamentarians. Most of them believed that the only unitary structure could form the most reliable state in which all the representatives of different nations were able to consider themselves Ukrainians regardless of their ethnic origin or linguistic independence.

Literature:

1. Варзар І.М. Політична етнологія як наука: історія, теорія, методологія, праксеологія. - К., 1994.

2. Рудницька Т.М. Етнічні спільноти України: тенденції соціальних змін. - К., 1998.

3. Шульга Н.А. Этническая самоидентификация личности. - К., 1996.