The theoretical analysis presented in this article links the social and institutional conditions of democratization by looking at two rarely associated concepts, civic unity and the rule of law. It attempts to bring a novel approach to the study of democratization in a divided society such as Ukraine, building on a selection of the existing literature on the subject and focusing on the civic dimension of the process. It follows the approach of those political scientists who have challenged the “no precondition’ line in democratization research by looking precisely at context specific conditions that may sustain democracy. It is argued that the common sense of citizenship and belonging to a political community, supported by legal and institutional mechanisms and conscious effort of political elites, would contribute to the development of civil society and perhaps even democratic consolidation in the long run. Thus the civic and institutional dimensions of democratization should not be separated, especially in case of some post-communist societies such as Ukraine. The relationship between these two dimensions, however, is problematic at least from a methodological point of view and requires careful examination