The Fulfillment of Nationwide Interests of Post-War Germany in the Dimension of ‘Chancellor Democracy’

Summing up the modern course of events regarding political leadership in Germany and on the basis of activities of eight chancellors, the author contends the following: The decisive factor in ascension to the political Olympus is the affiliation with either of the two parties, the SPD or the CDU/CSU union, with the nominee’s leadership qualities and political acumen playing an essential role. Even if these conditions are met, the contender’s choice of situation and time where these qualities would be sought after is quite important. It was the political developments of a certain historical era that became an imperative for some politicians to take the reins of power and use them to the full extent. Indeed, at turning points in the history of the Federal Republic, the most crucial decisions were prepared at the German Chancellery and made unilaterally by the chancellor. The author of the article emphasises that chance cannot be ruled out. To become a successful leader in Germany, the much-needed person must be in the right place at the right time. Proof of that is the example of German federal chancellors. The political landscape, democratic footing, and well-structured state and political set-up have enabled only two political parties, the CDU/CSU and the SPD, to nominate from their ranks those who could become national leaders of their historical epoch. The basis of ‘chancellor democracy’ as a system of state and political power has never impeded but enabled such ascension for outstanding personalities. Quite a few of them have become some sort of fathers of the nation. Able leadership that has benefited national interests and fitted into the plane of German development prospects has defined the personal success of both political figures and public officials of national scope. Keywords: Federal Republic of Germany, federal chancellor, political landscape, SPD, CDU/CSU.

Activities of The First Ukrainian Representation in Istanbul: State Mission of Diplomats

The article offers an insight into the foundations and main directions of work of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Istanbul through the prism of the personalities of its leaders. The author paid particular attention to the problems that Ukrainians had to face at the first stage of the formation of Ukrainian-Turkish diplomatic relations. The article was prepared on the basis of archival information contained in documents, which are mainly stored in the Central State Archives of the High Authorities and Administration of Ukraine. The results of studies of Ukrainian and Turkish scientists are taken into account. Based on the documents revealed and historiography, it was stated that the activity of the first Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Turkey lasted more than three years. During April 1918 – June 1922, there were five heads of the diplomatic mission, namely Mykola Levytskyi, Mykhailo Sukovkin, Oleksandr Lototskyi, Jan Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz, Lev Lisniak, each of whom exerted best of their strengths, intelligence and devotion to the national idea to implement the state mission. Mykhailo Sukovkin inflicted harm on the image of Ukraine maintaining contacts within the White Guard and demonstrating a non-Ukrainian position. The author states that the main areas of activity of the diplomatic mission were to establish political and economic relations, disseminate truthful information about Ukraine, achieve recognition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, popularize and institutionalise the idea of the Black Sea Union, organise aid to Ukrainian prisoners of war and refugees in Istanbul, form them into Ukrainian army units. The termination of the activities of the Embassy of the UPR was the result of the signing of interstate treaties between Turkey and the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR in 1922. The mutual diplomatic presence of the UPR and the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and the extension of the stay of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Istanbul in June 1922 give grounds to suggest that after the restoration of Ukraine’s state independence in 1991, the Ukrainian-Turkish diplomatic relations were not established but restored. Keywords: Ukrainian People’s Republic, Ukrainian State, Embassy of the UPR in the Ottoman Empire, Brest Peace Treaty.

The Pinnacle in the Activity of the Extraordinary Diplomatic Mission of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Romania (1921)

The article deals with the peculiarities in the activity of the Extraordinary Diplomatic Mission of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (EDM of the UPR) in Romania during 1921, when the whole territory of Ukraine was occupied by Bolshevik troops. In those circumstances, the State Centre of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in exile considered Romania as its important military and political partner in the struggle for Ukraine’s independence. For its part, the then Romanian leadership was deeply interested in the existence of independent Ukraine, primarily as a military and political buffer between Romania and expansionist Soviet Russia. The author emphasises the existence at the beginning of and during 1921 of sufficiently favourable political conditions for the activities of the EDM of the UPR in Romania. During 1921, the head of the mission and seasoned diplomat, K. Matsievych, held two important meetings with King Ferdinand I of Romania, had numerous working contacts with the heads of Romanian governments, ministers of foreign affairs, ministers of war, as well as authorised members of parliament and politicians with whom he discussed the cooperation of the Directory of the Ukrainian People’s Republic with Romania, zealously defending the Ukrainian cause. The EDM of the UPR in Bucharest and its consular offices in Iași, Chișinău, and Chernivtsi paid special attention to working with thousands of Ukrainian militaries as well as political and civilian emigrants throughout Romania, uniting the patriotic part of emigration and using its potential to liberate Ukraine. In this context, it is noted that during 1921 a military section was active in the EDM of the UPR in Bucharest, which from June of that year was headed by an experienced Ukrainian general, S. Delvih. The study reveals the details of the formation in the summer of 1921 in Romania, with the assistance of the country’s authorities, of the Bessarabian (Southern) guerrilla group as part of the UPR Insurgent Army with headquarters in Chișinău to participate in the Second Winter Campaign (October–November 1921), aimed at liberating southwestern Ukraine from the Bolshevik occupation. Keywords: Extraordinary Diplomatic Mission, Ukrainian People’s Republic, Directory, Kingdom of Romania, UPR Army, interned soldiers, guerrilla insurgent groups, Second Winter Campaign.

The Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine: A Logical Step to Resuming the Independence of the Ukrainian State (For the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence)

The article covers the problems with respect to the resumption of the independence of the Ukrainian state that occurred after the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine on 16 July 1990 and the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine on 24 August 1991. The authors determine the influence of the Russian political establishment on Ukrainian state building, exerted by means of hybrid warfare against Ukraine. Also described are the threats to Ukraine’s national security posed by Russia, such as the occupation of Crimea and part of Donbas, sponsorship of terrorism at the state level, political blackmailing, expansion of the ‘Russian world’ in the Ukrainian humanitarian and political space, etc. The article contains a comparative analysis of the processes of Ukrainian state building in the early and late 20th century as well as the geopolitical and domestic conditions in which the Ukrainian national vision was operationalised. Keywords: Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, hybrid warfare.

Europe on the Road to World War II: Polemical Notes

The Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine, preceded by the war of the Russian Federation against Georgia, raised the question of a joint repulse of democratic states to actions aimed at undermining European stability. The problem of protecting small and medium-sized states from the threat posed by Russia has arisen in a new way. In this context, the inability of leading European states to stop the aggression of Nazi Germany is repeatedly mentioned. To assess the relevance of such parallels with modernity, the authors of this article seek to briefly and objectively analyse what was happening in the 1930s. The threat of a military catastrophe and complete destabilisation of Europe had been growing since 1933, when Hitler came to power in Germany. He and his entourage gradually dragged Europe into a series of international conflicts and the World War II. According to the authors of the article, the leading motive for the inaction of Western powers within the military and political allied cooperation was not the desire to balance Germany’s military power and thus deter aggression but the attempt to avoid involvement in a world war by appeasing Hitler. In pursuit of European stability, France aimed to secure the military support of as wide a range of European countries as possible, and Great Britain was seeking to build a stable European system without making clear military commitments to the continental powers. London felt at peace with Berlin’s continental ambitions, as they did not cover the seas. London entertained the illusion that its security could be guaranteed without interfering in the war on the mainland. The authors emphasise that only in a state of conscious self-blindness could Western politicians for years retain the illusion of the prospect of civilising and taming the German dictator by satisfying his whims. Such illusions, however, never concerned Stalin. In the pre-war period, the Stalinist regime did its best to prevent the Soviet Union from being involved in building a system of collective security in Europe. The authors come to the following conclusion: in an effort to preserve at least the remnants of stability in Europe, the states have consistently moved towards continuous destabilization and war. Keywords: Europe, military and political union, World War II, Germany.

Foreign Policy Aspects of the National Liberation Struggle and the Geostrategic Place of the Ukrainian State in the Concept of the OUN-B

The article deals with the foreign policy aspects in the ideological concept of Stepan Bandera’s Organisation of Ukrainian Nationatists (OUN-B) during the period from the change of position and balance of forces in the Eastern Front of World War II in 1943 and its transformation during the following postwar decades until the eve of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence. The author examines the OUN’s geopolitical calculations for an armed confrontation between the USSR, on the one hand, and the allied United States and Great Britain, on the other; the beginning of the search for ways of the organisation’s cooperation with Western democracies; its attitude to the threat of a nuclear war, etc. Also analysed is the OUN-B leadership’s vision of the geostrategic place of the future Ukrainian state in the international arena and, in particular, in the post-Soviet space and on the map of Central and Eastern Europe. The article sheds light on the vision of the role and place of independent Ukraine in international politics, particularly with respect to possible military and political blocs, Ukraine’s role in the United Nations, its attitude to the prospect of united Europe, the war in Afghanistan, national liberation movements and the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the restoration of Ukraine’s state independence, and its place in the post-Soviet and European space. By way of conclusion, the author argues that the Cold War turned out to be helpful in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and allowed Ukraine to restore its national independence in 1991. Nonetheless, the modern national security agenda of Ukraine and the need for the world’s peace and balance necessitate curbing the imperialist, bellicose, and culpably terrorist actions and intents of Russia, the successor of the USSR. Keywords: OUN-B, Cold War, geopolitics, national liberation movements.

He Was Anxious about Ukraine till His Last Breath

These new memoirs about unforgettable episodes in my long-term diplomatic service, and there were many of such moments, the author dedicates to the memory of Ivan Samilenko, a well known public and political figure, the last Head of Government of the Ukrainian National Republic in exile, whose activities abroad lasted for over 70 years. Keywords: Ivan Samilenko, memoirs, Ukrainian National Republic.

Public Diplomacy of Ukraine in Kuwait: Thinking out of the Box

The paper considers Ukrainian public diplomacy events carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in cooperation with Ukrainian embassies overseas to strengthen the positive image of Ukraine in the international arena. The research has revealed that the modern concept of Ukrainian public diplomacy, which has replaced the outdated principle of cultural and humanitarian cooperation, is in need of new methods and ways of its implementation. In particular, what is implied here is harnessing the potential of digital diplomacy and crafting comprehensive multilateral projects involving both public and private actors. Such an approach will obviously require enhanced coordination among state bodies, public organisations and foundations as well as embracing modern digital technologies in the diplomatic agenda. Given the unprecedented nature of such initiatives in Ukraine’s diplomatic service, one of the main aspects of this research was to model the perspectives of holding large-scale image events, especially in the field of digital diplomacy, by Ukrainian diplomatic missions abroad. Considering the multifaceted concept of public diplomacy, it is stated that none of the existing algorithms can ensure the success of practices in the realm of public diplomacy. On the other hand, numerous indices, such as The Soft Power 30, Global Go To Think Tank Index, and Future Brand Country Index 2019, evaluate country profiles in the field of public diplomacy by using mathematical methods. Based on the Week of Ukraine in Kuwait 2020 and online projects initiated by the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait, the article analyses the effectiveness of alternative approaches to the implementation of Ukrainian public diplomacy in Kuwait. Keywords: public diplomacy, image-making projects, digital diplomacy, international image.

Contemporary Problems of Political Transformation in Modern Germany

The article states that the political party system formed on the constitutional basis of the Basic Law of Germany is one of the key pillars of democracy of the German state. The Western German-style political party system, based on a substantial legal framework, political culture, and traditions, has convincingly proved its democratic spirit and viability over several decades of the post-war period. The effectiveness of this system was ensured by the presence of the two large parties, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats. The attractiveness of their policy priorities, broad political activity, and statist approaches made it possible to displace other, less influential, parties. The effectiveness and viability of the political party system of Germany are also proven by the course of the process of restoring the country’s state unity. The current period is characterised by systemic crisis phenomena, which have not spared German major parties. These processes are also taking place in other European countries, as previously stable parties transform over time into an idiosyncratic kind of political and technological institutions. For them, short-term success is a priority and is defined by the number of votes cast, rather than the focus on robust principles and visions of the future. However, it may be fair to claim that the whole previous experience testifies to the creativity of the political party system of post-war Germany, thus making the modern Federal Republic of Germany able to cope with contemporary problems and challenges. This is – and will be – buttressed by time and new approaches pursued by politicians, experts, and scholars as well as the previous practice of reaching compromises and social concord in the name of national interests. The political party system was and remains an important constituent of the entire state and political system of Germany. Keywords: political party system, Federal Republic of Germany, state system, Germany, Christian Democrats, Social Democrats.