The work of N. I. Ulyanov, devoted to the understanding of history, is conventionally divided into several categories: political science aspects of the national question in general and, in particular, separatism, philosophy of history, philosophy of culture. The theme of separatism occupies an important place in the work of Ulyanov. He consistently pursues the idea of ​ ​ the priority of geopolitical assignment over narrow-national interests. The political scheme for the development of the separatist movement in Russia is as follows: ethnographic autonomy - national independence - local territorial claims - the creation of "empires" from ocean to ocean. The latter is usually blamed exclusively on Russian statesmen, regardless of their nationality. N.I. Ulyanov traces similar processes in the views of Finnish, Estonian and Tatar nationalists.