Methodology of the research of the Transcarpathia Sovietization in 1944–1950

Abstract

The article analyzes the modern methodology of the Transcarpathia Sovietization research in 1944–1950. Though there are individual (N. Makara, V. Mishchanyn) and collective monogrpahs (N. Makara, R. Ofitsinsky), it is too early to speak about a serious methodological base to present the causal links of this process. A better understanding of Sovietization in Transcarpathia requires studying the historical and geographical space. A contemporary researcher should go beyond the narrowed framework of the regional approach in the study of the Sovietization in Transcarpathia and compare its post-war transformations with those in Western Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic Republics, Central and Eastern Europe (A. Applebaum) using the methodology of comparative analysis. The epistemological approach employed by P.R. Magocsi can be used to study the historical specificity of the region with its multi-ethnicity, multiculturalism, multiconfessionality (S. Makarchuk). The Ukrainian emigration was rather critical of the post-war policy of the Soviet regime. In particular, V. Markus defines the entry of Transcarpathia into Soviet Ukraine as annexation. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine published in the 1950s and 1980s in Canada analyzes many aspects of Sovietization in the Ukrainian SSR. A contemporary researcher should clearly understand such concepts as “totalitarianism” (H. Arendt), “Sovietization”, “socialist version of modernization” (S. Gavrov), “transit”, “transformation”, etc. The article also points out some errors of scholars studying the problems of Sovietization in the region. Thus, the problem of Sovietization of Transcarpathia is still under development. Its multifaceted nature requires interdisciplinary approaches using the tools of history, economics, law, statistics, political science, social science, ethnology, and cultural studies.