The article discusses the key aspects of the concept of "nation" and "nationalism" that have emerged in Ukrainian socio-political thought of the modern era. The ideas of Ukrainian statehood were quite actively developed in the environment of the Ukrainian intelligentsia at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries and subsequently reflected in the programs of Ukrainian political parties in different directions. The political works of M. Mikhnovsky and S. Hrushevsky, as the founders of the Ukrainian political doctrine, are analyzed, their views on the establishment of statehood on the Ukrainian lands are compared and the main differences of their vision of the future destiny of the Ukrainian people are revealed. Along with the federalist vision of the future of the Ukrainian state, there is another direction - independent. In the early twentieth century. a new ideological doctrine - nationalism - is beginning to emerge. The experience of Ukrainian nationalism is in many respects unique, since this ideological doctrine will appear on the territory of our country quite late, in comparison with other European countries, actively combined with various forms of Marxism, and in the end, did not ensure the formation of a nation-state. The relevance of this topic is that the problem of the formation of state-building ideas in Ukrainian sociopolitical thought of the late XIX - early XX centuries. was important for outlining the national and political orientations of the Ukrainian people, which greatly influenced the course and results of the revolution and civil war of 1917 - 1921 in Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to analyze and contrast two alternative models of Ukrainian statehood that belonged to the leading political figures - M. Hrushevsky and M. Mikhnovsky and to determine the role and meaning of the ideas of "nation" and "nationalism" in their concepts.