Construction of the Image of Maidan in the Historiography of the Orange Revolution and Its Influence on the Development of the Institute of the Head of State in Ukraine

Abstract

The article investigates the construction of the image of the Maidan in the historiographical reflections of actor-narrators of the 2004 civil disobedience movement and reconstructs the mechanisms underlying the formation of a de facto “invisible college” that established an interpretative model of the Maidan based on a positive-sum (win-win) game. The historical-comparative method, narrative analysis, and discourse analysis were applied to documentary materials, memoirs, interviews, and journalistic sources from 2004–2008, while close reading was used to identify the figure of the actor-narrator in reflective texts. The study systematically reconstructs the previously unexplored presence of professionally trained historians at different levels of decision-making and demonstrates how this factor contributed to the peaceful resolution of the unprecedented crisis of the Independence era through a hybrid (r)evolutionary “game” grounded in mutual responsibility. Professional historical education among field commanders (Stets’kiv, Filenko), journalistic leaders (Yanevskyi), and political leaders (Lytvyn) helped structure negotiations around the inclusive formula “not a drop of blood, both sides save face.” Representatives of the creative (proto)class, particularly Zabuzhko, integrated the events into the horizon of “great time” through comparisons with the Sich and Vich, while Donii represented the continuity of revolutionary experience. The analysis also identifies limitations in the imaginative horizon of contemporary actor-narrators, including the marginalization of the role of priests and the gender dimension of the events. The presence of professional historians across different levels of decision-making emerges as a previously undescribed factor that contributed to the peaceful resolution of the 2004 crisis. Further research should examine the Church’s transformation into a civil-society actor during 2005–2013 and reconsider the gender dimension of both Maidans through the perspective of trauma studies.