The Formation of National Identity in Contemporary Russia (original) (raw)
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Ethnicities, Nationalism and the Politics of Identity: Shaping the Nation in Russia
Europe-Asia Studies, 2015
THE POST-SOVIET PERIOD IN RUSSIA HAS REACHED THE quarter of a century milestone. The identity crisis widely acknowledged in post-Soviet research in its first two decades opened the way for policies aimed at the consolidation of an encompassing all-Russian (rossiiskaya) national identity 1 as a source of nation-building. Contention over political separatism and various regional scenarios of the politics of identity 2 are being superseded by the 'Russian (russkii) question'. Meanwhile strengthening ethnic identities look up to religious, language and cultural landmarks as reference points. The nation-building agenda is thus having to take in different repertoires of contention, and bridging cleavages within Russian society is not only and not primarily a question of elite-tailored politics of identity. It is about the formation and assertion of inclusive identities innate both to the Russian cultural tradition and to the needs of a community confronting the challenges of modernisation. In a multi-ethnic society like Russia, promoting inclusive identities is a core question for social modernisation. This agenda includes consolidating the nation as a political community sharing fundamental citizenship values. The 1993 Constitution sees the country as a 'multinational people'-a notion that finds differing interpretations in political and academic circles. There is, however, no consensus over the contents of such basic concepts as nationality and ethnicity, or on the use in public discourse of terms such as 'nation-state', 'national republics' (for which the official name is 'national-territorial formations of the
Russian national identity: old traumas and new challenges
Published in S. Smyth & C. Opitz (Eds.), Negotiating Linguistic, Cultural and Social Identities in the Post-Soviet World (pp. 87-108). Oxford, UK, Bern, etc.: Peter Lang, 2013. The Chapter analyzes difficulties associated with the academic analysis, socio-political and everyday connotations of Russian national identity, focusing on transformations and challenges it has faced since the end of the Soviet Union. It problematizes Russian national identity as the creation of political and cultural elites, which often failed to engage the masses in a corresponding movement of national revival. The perspective adopted is that of historical phenomenology: Russian national identity is perceived as a dynamic construct shaped by a diachronic historical perspective on the one hand, and a synchronic geopolitical perspective on the other. The Chapter presents a descriptive case study to address the question of what exactly are the main components of Russian national identity and how they structure ethno-national perceptions at the elite and mass levels of society. The conclusions focus on the underdevelopment and amorphousness of the Russian national character, and explain why it has been problematic to situate Russian national identity in an unambiguously defined state-bearing nation or ethnicity.
Forging the nation: National identity and nation building in post‐communist Russia
Europe-Asia Studies, 1998
AFTER THE DOWNFALL OF THE USSR all the newly independent states had to embark on the road of nation building (defining 'who are we the people' and fostering the people's national identity, i.e. their sense of belonging to one distinct community) and state building (defining state boundaries which can be accepted by all major political players and creating new political institutions which can inspire the loyalty of the people). By now they have achieved varying degrees of success, depending on the demographic and ethnic composition of a country, its political culture, and its economic situation. In the case of the Russian Federation (RF) this set of issues is further complicated by the fact that Russia has traditionally been the centre of an empire, and therefore confusion over the 'just borders' of the new state is greater among politicians, intellectuals and even ordinary people than is the case in the non-Russian newly independent states. Thus more ideas about what is the Russian nation and what should be the geography of the new Russian state are currently to be found in the RF than is the case in the other 14 former Soviet republics. However, in both Russia and other newly independent states, the main problem of nation building is the same-namely, how to reconcile civic identities based on inclusive citizenship and exclusive ethnic identities based on such common characteristics as culture, religion, language and a common ancestor of a dominant nationality, on the one hand, and of ethnic minorities, on the other.
Civic and Ethnic Identity of Citizens of Russian Border Regions
2016
This paper is on the development of a theoretically based civic and ethnic identity measure. The article presents the analysis of the parameters of civic and ethnic identity of the inhabitants of six subjects of Russian Federation situated near the state borders: Altai region, Zabaikalye region, Kemerovo region, Omsk region, Orenburg region and Republic of Altai there empirical studies with 2400 participants were carried out. The conclusion is made about the specificity of identity and the inter-ethnic relations of the regions. The boundary regions of Russia have a high national differentiation, thus, peaceful development of all cultures becomes a priority task. This policy would promote the growth of national consciousness, and further the sustainable development of the region. The results of survey show that following factors predetermine self-identification: the origin of man, the history of the region, patriotism, religious beliefs. Despite the cultural differences in regions of...
Raising 'the Russian Question': Ethnicity and Statehood, Russkie and Rossiya
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 1996
The breakdown of the USSR has made the Russian state’s mismatch with nationalists’ conceptions of Russia more urgent. This article systematizes key contemporary Russian images of ‘Russia’ by drawing a number of concentric circles around the Russian Federation. It is pointed out that some of these circles are associated with ethnicity, while others are primarily statist. An important conclusion is that most of these images portray Russia spanning wider than does the present Russian state. The article intimates that a variance of foreign policies may be justified on the basis of ideas of Russianness.
This paper is dealing with Russian history and how it has affected Russian identity. The paper was turned in as a final paper in a course on Central and Eastern Europe, during a Master in International Realtions. Graded with a B.
Russian Nationalism (chapter 2023)
Routledge Handbook of Russian Politics and Society, 2023
This chapter argues that nationalism remains a central force in Russian politics and society. Since the 1990s, expressions of Russian nationalism have both multiplied and come to focus heavily on ethnic issues. The chapter focuses on national projects shaped and carried out by a number of actors in accordance with their – often competing – visions of the Russian nation, including nation-building efforts by the state leadership. According to G. Hosking, the construction of an imperial state in Russia obstructed nation-building. Russian opposition nationalism can be visualised as a variety of circles that display varying degrees of loyalty to the Putin regime and to the Russian state. In parallel, new forms of Russian nationalism have emerged that are strenuously opposed to the Putin regime. While borrowing from the discourse of opposition nationalism and co-opting nationalist opinion-makers, the Kremlin has succeeded in disqualifying nationalists, let alone pro-democracy ones, preventing them from posing what could be a dangerous challenge to Putin’s rule.