Cossacks and Cowboys

Rob Tracinski talks to Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher and chief editor of UkraineWorld, about the war in Ukraine, but also about the values for which Ukraine is fighting and the deep historical roots of liberalism in Ukraine.

We talk about the parallels between America and Ukraine, which sees itself as “another America” or a “European America”—a “Wild East” settled by “free warriors of the steppe,” to match our Wild West. Think of it as Cossacks and cowboys.

The deepest philosophical parallel is the history of the Cossacks and their “contractual idea of politics,” in which power is defined by an agreement between the ruler and the ruled—as opposed to Russia’s long history of imperialist absolutism.

Watch the video here.