VIACHESLAV LYPYNSKYI – THEORETICIAN OF CONSERVATISM AND FOUNDER OF THE STATE-CENTRIC CONCEPT IN UKRAINIAN POLITICAL SCIENCE

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of the political views of Viacheslav Lypynskyi, a prominent Ukrainian scholar, a leading theorist of national conservatism, and a founder of the state-centered approach in Ukrainian political science. The study analyzes the key factors that shaped Lypynskyi’s worldview, including his aristocratic background, education at the Kyiv Gymnasium and the universities of Kraków and Geneva, as well as his engagement with the theoretical legacy of prominent Western European scholars and thinkers. Three principal stages in the formation and transformation of his ideological positions are identified: from an early proponent of the idea of establishing a democratic republic in Ukraine to a representative of conservative ideology and the author of an original Hetman-monarchical model of Ukrainian state-building. Particular attention is paid to the debatable nature of this periodization within the scholarly community, as well as to the consistency and continuity of Lypynskyi’s state-oriented and independence-centered stance. Special emphasis is placed on the characterization of conservatism in Lypynskyi’s scholarly works and on his state-building concept, grounded in the principles of territorial patriotism, classocracy (rule of the best), and a monarchical form of government. His participation in ideological and party-political processes, as well as in party-building activities, is also examined. The article underscores the necessity of a critical reassessment of Viacheslav Lypynskyi’s intellectual legacy and highlights its contemporary socio-political relevance for understanding state-building processes in modern Ukraine and for the further development of Ukrainian political science