Political Realism and Ideology of the Ukrainian Elite of the Hetmanship (Second Half of the XVII – Middle of the XVIII Century)
The article examines the reflection of the political realism paradigm in the ideology of the Ukrainian elite of the second half of the XVII – mid-XVIII century. It is claimed that at this time there were formed two directions, which pursued different goals: the church representatives advocated the restoration of the ancient Russian Orthodox Empire centered in Kyiv, and representatives of the Cossack-senior direction – the idea of the people as a subject of international relations to resist the most powerful Empires. Representatives of the first direction – Innozenz Giesel, Stefan Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich and others. Representatives of the second direction – Hryhoriy Grabianka, Pylyp Orlyk, Samiilo Velychko, Semen Divovych and others. Their works, though not fully, reflected the theory of political realism. Partially, it was combined with some idealistic ideas. The combination of realism and idealism in the theoretical ideas of the Ukrainian elite was explained by the circumstances of Ukrainian society in the second half of the seventeenth – early eighteenth century. The main positions reflected in the works of the Ukrainian elite were that the people and the monarch are the subjects of international relations, that international relations are significantly influenced by the actions of the individual (monarch, hetman, pope), which is also part of international relations there is also the religious factor that the decisive role in international relations is played by force, that peace («eternal peace») is achievable through the use of force. The methodology of this article is based on logical, comparative and historical research methods.