Nation-Building and Identity in the Post-Soviet Space

New Tools and Approaches

Rico Isaacs, Abel Polese

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317090182
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Comparative Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Nation-building as a process is never complete and issues related to identity, nation, state and regime-building are recurrent in the post-Soviet region. This comparative, inter-disciplinary volume explores how nation-building tools emerged and evolved over the last twenty years. Featuring in-depth case studies from countries throughout the post-Soviet space it compares various aspects of nation-building and identity formation projects. Approaching the issue from a variety of disciplines, and geographical areas, contributors illustrate chapter by chapter how different state and non-state actors utilise traditional instruments of nation-construction in new ways while also developing non-traditional tools and strategies to provide a contemporary account of how nation-formation efforts evolve and diverge.

Post-Soviet Politics

Series Editor:

Neil Robinson, University of Limerick, Ireland

The last decade has seen rapid and fundamental change in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Although there has been considerable academic comment on these changes over the years, detailed empirical and theoretical research on the transformation of the post-Soviet space is only just beginning to appear as new paradigms are developed to explain change.

Post-Soviet Politics is a series focusing on the politics of change in the states of the former USSR. The series publishes original work that blends theoretical development with empirical research on post-Soviet politics. The series includes work that progresses comparative analysis of post-Soviet politics, as well as case study research on political change in individual post-Soviet states. The series features original research monographs, thematically strong edited collections, and specialised texts.

Uniquely, this series brings together the complete spectrum of work on post-Soviet politics, providing a voice for academics world wide.

Also in the series

Euro-Atlantic Discourse in Georgia

The Making of Georgian Foreign and Domestic Policy After the Rose Revolution

Frederik Coene

ISBN 978 1 4724 5460 7

Systemic and Non-Systemic Opposition in the Russian Federation

Civil Society Awakens?

Edited by Cameron Ross

ISBN 978 1 4724 3504 0

Autocratic and Democratic External Influences in Post-Soviet Eurasia

Edited by Anastassia Obydenkova and Alexander Libman

ISBN 978 1 4724 4124 9

Religion, Politics and Nation-Building in Post-Communist Countries

Edited by Greg Simons and David Westerlund

ISBN 978 1 4724 4969 6

The Politics of Energy and Memory between the Baltic States and Russia

Agnia Grigas

ISBN 978 1 4724 5136 1

Negotiating Armenian-Azerbaijani Peace

Opportunities, Obstacles, Prospects

Ohannes Geukjian

ISBN 978 1 4724 3514 9

Nation-Building and Identity in the Post-Soviet Space

New tools and approaches

Edited by

Rico Isaacs and Abel Polese

First published 2016

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2016 Rico Isaacs and Abel Polese

The right of Rico Isaacs and Abel Polese to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 9781472454768 (hbk)

ISBN: 9781315597386 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315597386

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Contents

• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Nation-Building in the Post-Soviet Space: Old, New and Changing Tools RICO ISAACS AND ABEL POLESE
• 1 Memory and Nation-Building in Georgia FABIO DE LEONARDIS
• 2 Minority Assimilation and Nation-Building in Kazakhstan YVES-MARIE DAVENEL AND EUNSIL YIM
• 3 Religion and Nation-Building in Crimea DIDEM BUHARI GULMEZ
• 4 Language, Schools and Nation-Building in Tatarstan TERESA WIGGLESWORTH-BAKER
• 5 Language, Economy and Nation-Building in the Republic of Sakha AIMAR VENTSEL
• 6 Language, Law and Nation-Building in Georgia KARLI STORM
• 7 Cinema and Nation-Building in Kazakhstan RICO ISAACS
• 8 Personality Cults and Nation-Building in Turkmenistan SLAVOMIR HORÁK AND ABEL POLESE
• 9 Public Events and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan ELISABETH MILITZ
• 10 Public Construction and Nation-Building in Tajikistan FILIPPO MENGA
• 11 Elections and Nation-Building in Abkhazia DONNACHA Ó BEACHÁIN
• 12 Health and Nation-Building in Russia SAGLAR BOUGDAEVA
• Conclusion: (Re)imagining or Imagined Nation-Building? RICO ISAACS AND ABEL POLESE
• Index

Figures

• 4.1 Levels of Russian reading and writing proficiency for Tatar population
• 4.2 Levels of Russian reading and writing proficiency for Russian population
• 4.3 Levels of Tatar proficiency for Tatar population
• 4.4 Levels of Tatar proficiency for Russian population
• 4.5 Levels of Tatar proficiency of Russian high scorers
• 4.6 Levels of Tatar proficiency of Ta...