This work examines the impact of nationalism on the politics of Ukraine, arguably the most important of the non-Russian States to emerge from the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Whereas in many other emergent states in Eastern Europe nationalism has filled the ideological vacuum caused by the collapse of communism, to date Ukraine has managed to steer clear of the kind of aggressive ethno-nationalism that has destabilized politics elsewhere in the region. However, an increasingly vocal and frustrated minority may become more and more influential if the economic and/or security situation in the region rapidly deteriorates.