Conceptualizations of Soviet Totalitarianism in American and Contemporary Ukrainian Historiography: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This article presents a comparative-historical analysis of the conceptualization of Soviet totalitarianism in American historical thought (from the second half of the 20th century to the first third of the 21st century) and in contemporary Ukrainian historical thought.

The methodological foundation of this study is based on the fundamental principles of historicism, scientific objectivity, and systematicity, which made it possible to examine the evolution of scientific concepts through their close interconnection with the socio-political context of their formation. The primary research tool is the comparative-historical (comparative) method, which was used to identify their intersections, conceptual differences, and methodological gaps in American and domestic traditions of studying Soviet totalitarianism. At the same time, elements of a postcolonial perspective were applied to properly analyze the transformation of contemporary Ukrainian scholarship, which made it possible to examine the process of deconstructing imperial myths and shifting the research focus toward national tragedy and subjectivity. This comprehensive methodological synthesis provided a holistic understanding of the phenomenon of totalitarianism and made it possible to identify ways to bridge the theoretical gap between the historiographical schools under analysis.

The conclusions establish that American historiography has primarily focused on theoretical modeling and the sociocultural aspects of the Soviet totalitarian regime, whereas Ukrainian historiography has focused on the study of repressive mechanisms, particularly through the Holodomor as a Soviet instrument for breaking Ukrainian national resistance. It is argued that at the present stage, there are noticeable trends toward the synthesis of epistemologies and the convergence of the intellectual output of the American theoretical model with the Ukrainian documentary heritage on the study of Soviet totalitarianism.