Language and Identity in Ukraine: Was it Really Nation-Building?
Journal: Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences)
Year: 2025

After the collapse of three socialist federations in Eastern Europe, the expression ‘nation-building’ returned to the heart of academic debates. Like other former socialist republics, Ukraine has started its nationbuilding project trying to balance between a limitation of centrifugal forces and the ‘nationalisation’ (Brubaker 1994) of the state. This article examines the main features of language policies within the Ukrainian nation-building project and adopts a dual approach. It ﬁ rst surveys t