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The article deals with the world outlook basis of the national idea and reveals the main factors of formation of Ukrainian national idea. It is shown that despite the large number of national scientific and political books devoted to this subject in our time Ukrainian do not have this idea that would consolidate society fractured by political speculations. Against this background, it is emphasized that the establishment of the national idea is closely correlated with the concept of «nation» dominating in a social and cultural space. The theoretical differences between traditionalist and modernist approach and understanding of the nation are highlighted and their theoretical and practical potential in the process of construction of national idea is shown. Particular attention is paid in the article to the specifics in the formation of Ukrainian national idea, the birth of which had taken place in the nineteenth century in the creative legacy of Taras Shevchenko. However, due to political and cultural circumstances of that time Ukrainian (political and cultural) elite was not able to form a consolidating idea for the entire population. This task, once again, was undertaken by the Ukrainian people, including Ukrainian students, who formed the Ukrainian national idea as Ukraine's European choice.

The article reviews the main approaches to the interpretation of nationalism. To this end, the author reveals the etymological origins of the word «nationalism», focusing attention on its meaningful relationship with care for the people and patriotism, and highlights the philosophical principles of prevailing today polar approaches to its assessment. On this background, it is stressed that the methodological difficulties of defining nationalism are caused by the diversity of its social and cultural expressions – it is regarded as an ideology, as a political movement, as a spiritual guidance and as a political credo etc. In the article special attention is paid to the analysis of social and cultural origins of nationalism, so by distancing from economic reductionism the legitimacy of constructivist approach is emphasized. In the frame of the latter nationalism is reviewed as phenomenon consciously constructed by political elite. It is demonstrated that the intentions of constructivist interpretation of nationalism are closely correlated with the traditionalist (especially, perennialist) approach. Among other things, the historical origins and socio-cultural conditions of widespread of ideas of nationalism and the causes of appearance its authoritarian and reactionary forms are analyzed.

Despite the fact that slogans related to ethnic-cultural and geographical disunity of modern Ukrainian society are often used in modern Ukrainian mass media and especially in presidential and parliamentary electoral programs, this problem has not become an important part of social and political thought in Ukraine. That is why the average citizens and even intelligentsia often do not adequately percept such an idea. In the present article the author demonstrates historic, geographic and cultural grounds of ethnic-cultural disunity of the Ukrainian society.