Political Affinities and Maneuvering of Soviet Political Elites

Heorhii Shevel and Ukraine’s Ministry of Strange Affairs in the 1970s

Bibliographic Data

ID11047786
AuthorsOlga Bertelsen (0000-0002-7210-9983, European University Institute, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume47
Issue3
Pages394-411
Publication date2019-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNationalities Papers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/nps.2018.51
OpenAlexW2949091118
LanguageEN
References cited34

This article examines the goals and practices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine in the 1970s, a Soviet institution that functioned as an ideological organ fighting against Ukrainian nationalists domestically and abroad. The central figure of this article is Heorhii Shevel who governed the Ministry from 1970 to 1980 and whose tactics, strategies, and practices reveal the existence of a distinct phenomenon in the Soviet Union—the nationally conscious political elite with double loyalties who, by action or inaction, expanded the space of nationalism in Ukraine. This research illuminates a paradox of pervasive Soviet power, which produced an institution that supported and reinforced Soviet “anti-nationalist” ideology, simultaneously creating an environment where heterodox views or sentiments were stimulated and nurtured

Christian ministry · Elite · Ideology · Institution · Ministry of Foreign Affairs · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Ukrainian · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Law · Philosophy · Public Administration · Soviet and Russian History

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