The Ukrainian Hetmanate State of 1918: Restorationist Tendencies in Domestic Policy

The purpose of the article is to study the main directions of the domestic policy of the Ukrainian Hetmanate State, which were characterized by tendencies toward the restoration of the pre-revolutionary order in the formation of constitutional foundations, the creation of the judicial system, the implementation of land reform, and the reorganization of local self-government. The methodological basis consists of the principles of historicism, scientific rigor, and objectivity. Methods of logical, textual, and comparative analysis are applied. The scientific novelty lies in the systematic coverage of the inhibitory influence of using the Russian imperial legacy on the process of building Ukrainian statehood, consolidating its independence, and shaping the national identity of the ruling elite. The Hetmanate arose as a result of a coup d’état organized by the German and Austro-Hungarian allies of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in order to secure guaranteed supplies of food and raw materials stipulated by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Instead of the socialist Central Rada, power passed to a conservative regime, whose legal foundations were formed on the basis of Russian imperial legislation, both in its direct and adapted forms. This applied, in particular, to the constitutional foundations of the state-political model, the judicial system, the restoration of property rights, the introduction of the state language, and changes in the democratic principles of zemstvo and duma self-government.