National Identity in a Center-Periphery Context Conflict and Accommodation in Russia's Regions

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Keywords

Ethnic Conflict, Russia, Center-Periphery

Area of Concentration

International and Area Studies

Abstract

This research project was designed to identify policy decisions or patterns of ethnic treatment and accommodation that exacerbate or resolve ethnic tension. Most ethnic tension occurs within states, and Russia�s internal ethnic conflict presented itself as an ideal case study because ethnically defined regions are located within Russia�s borders. This thesis compares the relationships of the Sakha Republic, Chechnya, Tatarstan, and Primorye with Moscow. Russia is formed around a center-periphery model where Moscow acts as the central authority over a number of ethnically and non-ethnically defined regions. Tatarstan, Chechnya, and the Sakha Republic are ethnically defined whereas Primorye is not. Primorye, therefore, acts as a control in this study to indicate whether many of the demands of the ethnically defined regions are truly ethnonationalist or are really demands for regional autonomy framed in ethnic terms. These four regions present unique relationships with the central authority and thus offer a wide variety of information for comparison. They all have considerable economic bargaining power. Their original experiences of integration into Russia and regional cultural alliances differ, but they have in common Soviet and Post-Soviet nationality policy and the establishment of the ethnofederal system under communism and the Russian Federation. The study concludes that the central authority implemented and reinforced an ethnofederal system that affected the relationships of these four regions with Moscow. The regional demands were sometimes framed in ethnic terms, but, more often than not, these ethnic demands were neutralized in favor of more moderate inclusive demands. The exception was Chechnya. The Tatarstan and the Sakha Republic cases more closely resembled that of ethnically Russian Primorye, showing that economic and political demands outweighed cultural exclusivism in this subset. Chechnya was an exceptional case because of its highly nationalist leadership, external Islamist forces, and a history of conflict between Moscow and the region since its incorporation.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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