The Federalism OF M. P. Dragomanov

Abstract

Mikhail (Mikhaylo) Petrovich Dragomanov (1841 - 1895) is one of the most eminent persons of so-called “liberation movement” in the Russian Empire, one of the key figures in the history of the Ukrainian national movement of the XIX century, the famous historian and the ethnographer. Due to various circumstances, in the XX century his contribution to the development of Russian social thought was relatively underestimated — in particular — his works on federalism stayed out of focus of researcheres attention. In these works he sought not only to apply the existing theories to the conditions of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, but he comes from specific problems, for example, the issues generated
by the national movements of the so-called “Young nations”, to reconsider existing theoretical models. In our opinion of special interest represent the his attempt to connect anarchist and public-legal understanding of federalism, to establish a constitutionalist project on the rights
of man and citizen. Dragomanov’s attention to federalist problems is clearly concentrates from the beginning of the 1870s, however his theoretical views reach completeness of development in 1882 - 1884 in the context of the discussion of the program of the “Zemsky’s Union”
(fictitious organization, the provocative project of the Sacred Druzhina) and the experience of applying the basic provisions of the latter to Ukrainian conditions. Sensitively reacting to the current Western European political agenda and seeking to carry out broadcast of an
urgent perspective in the Russian social thought Dragomanov in the context of elaboration of the federalistic project especially stops on questions of protection of the rights of minorities, representations of the last, opportunities to combine the territorial principles of the political
organization and national heterogeneity. The proposed approaches of him to federal problems were far from being fully claimed by the Russian constitutional discussions of the beginning of the XX century including within the Ukrainian national movement, however they are of great
interest as experience of estimation of a possible way of transformation of imperial orders in the conditions of transition to a late modernist style.