Intellectual migration from Ukraine: a historical and economic essay

Abstract

The article presents a retrospective analysis of the Ukrainian population intellectual migration, its factors and motives. The author singled out the displacement of Ukrainian intellectuals, who had the most significant influence on the Ukraine’s development. In different periods, such migrations were caused by the colonial position of Ukraine as a part of different empires. This position caused the outflow of the intellectuals to the metropolises, because they provided more opportunities. Ukrainian intellectuals made trips to Muscovy to translate, to teach students and to teach children languages, beginning in the second half of the 16th century. At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ukrainians – mostly alumni and teachers of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy – became leaders of European culture and education in Muscovy. One of the important factors of intellectual migration was the political harassment of Ukrainians. The most crucial – in the meaning of intellectual losses – were following events: the emigration of Ivan Mazepa and his followers in the beginning of the 18th century; the publication of the Emsky decree in 1876; "The Philosophy Steamer" in 1921–22; and the establishment of Bolshevik-Soviet authority on the Ukrainian lands. The last one was analysed with the use of the conventional approach to the determination of the waves of massive migration of Ukrainian population. It was found that the largest outflow of intellectuals occurred within the second (interwar) and the third (after World War II) waves. This outflow became one of the factors that destabilized Ukraine's economic development and reduced this country’s institutional capacity. The author concludes that the outflow of intellectuals to the metropolises likewise the political emigration inevitably led to the exclusion of well-educated and active individuals from ethnic Ukrainian lands. However, emigration made it possible for intellectuals to survive, to reproduce intellectually and to educate the later generations, especially in the Soviet period. In conclusion, the author warned that the proposed results should not be seen as a call to restrict the mobility of intellectuals, as this could dam-age the scientific system as a whole. Instead, the author proposed to promote academic mobility as a tool to enhance the professional level of Ukrainian scientists and to create a competitive scientific environment in Ukraine.