ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL WEALTH IN THE LEGAL VIEWS OF FIGURES OF UKRAINIAN EMIGRATION IN 1920–1930

Abstract

The article examines the concepts of statehood and the nation of Ukrainian intellectuals in emigration of the interwar period. The key approaches that deepened knowledge about the people, nation, state, government, etc. are singled out. Only a few researchers are familiar with the intellectual heritage of Ukrainian thinkers of the interwar period, such as S. Dnistryanskyi, V. Starosolskyi, O. Eichelman, O. Bochkovskyi, A. Yakovliv, V. Lypinskyi and others. The territorial problem appeared as one of the important aspects of the scientific theorizing of many scientists of the given era. Different scientists gave unequal importance to the territory in the development of the Ukrainian state, but the majority held the view that the territory itself is a natural prerequisite for the successful development of the nation. The reason for the long period of «statelessness» of the Ukrainian people lies, among other things, in the weakness of the national idea and insufficient awareness by the Ukrainian elite of their tasks, common values and high goals of the nation. The Ukrainian movement is unique and should be based on its own political and legal experience, Ukrainian customs and traditions, without denying historical lessons and the world political situation. When a country loses intellectual wealth due to the emigration of the best scientists and experts, as was the case a century ago and is observed today in Ukraine, it loses the opportunity to accumulate more national wealth. The same is observed when the intellectual level of the nation decreases, especially when the quality of education decreases and the funding of science and education is reduced. Modern scientists are faced with the task of analyzing the scientific ideas of political emigrants, who themselves were theoreticians and creators of the restored statehood in various forms in 1917–1921, unrealized scientific concepts, to find among them the most acceptable examples for modern times and, with the help of political figures-practitioners, to make an attempt at successful development of the Ukrainian state. The search for further prospects requires the development of new approaches to the analysis of political and legal reality while not losing the socio-historical, national, cultural and moral foundations of the Ukrainian people.