National Minorities and International Change: Being Ukrainian in Contemporary Poland

This article explores the question of how the dynamic of interstate relations affects the domestic processes of minority mobilisation. It analyses Ukrainian minority activism in contemporary Poland against the background of the changing relations between Poland and Ukraine. The article argues that the influence of interstate relations on Ukrainian minority activism is more complex than a traditional view of national minority politics would lead us to presume. Starting from this case study, the article argues that there is a need for a contextual and process-oriented understanding of the categories commonly deployed in the study of minority politics in the region.