Echoes of Empire: Subnationalism and Political Development in the Russian Federation
Open AccessNationalism is a maker and breaker of states. In multiethnic states, however, political identities at the sub-national level only sometimes translate into separatist demands. In this dissertation I ask why some groups in multiethnic states develop strong and distinct sub-national identities, whilst others’ remain milder or even assimilate to the ethnic majority. To do so, I engage in a cross-case study of the 21 ethnic republics of the Russian Federation. Whilst existing literature highlights proximate causes of this variation rooted in instrumental or institutional logics, I instead locate the sources of sub-state nationalism in long-run patterns of Russian imperial expansion and political development. I argue that differences in societies’ pre-colonial institutions, the Russian state’s mode of colonization, and the relevant identity cleavage shaped the symbolic boundaries and content of sub-national identities. To evaluate these claims, I employ a mixed-methods approach, combining statistical analysis with comparative-historical analysis of Russian republics and case studies of sub-national mobilization, drawing upon extensive archival and historiographical sources in 12 languages, including multiple regional languages of Russia. My findings reaffirm the importance of history by showing not only how macro-historical patterns shaped variation in sub-national identity, but also that the symbolic boundaries and content of these identities shaped the political actions taken by republican authorities in the early 1990s. Where local identity narratives emphasized antagonistic relations with Russia, political leaders faced significant bottom-up pressures to pursue “nation-building” policies at the sub-national level; where narratives were milder, activists struggled to galvanize such sentiment, and instead would seek to construct alternative historical and cultural narratives, but which failed to resonate more broadly. These findings underscore the macro-historical origins and persistence of political attitudes by showing the enduring effects of imperial expansion on contemporary identities. An important implication derived from this is that the power of states and nationalist leaders to shape identity formation is overstated. This is particularly relevant when it comes to political science research on the former Soviet Union, which has often ascribed it the status of “nation-builder” par excellence. Instead, this dissertation builds upon insights from the “imperial turn” in the field of history by emphasizing the importance of long-run patterns of imperial expansion and interactions. As such, I argue that empire “echoes” more loudly in some cases than others.This dissertation consists of nine chapters. Chapter One introduces the dissertation. Chapter Two discusses sub-state nationalism as an empirical and theoretical phenomenon, before turning to statistical analysis in the Russian context. Chapter Three articulates a theory of sub-state nationalism rooted in symbolic politics and macro-historical state expansion. Chapter Four turns specifically to the Russian case, showing how the patterns outlined in Chapter Three shaped Russian imperial expansion. Chapter Five examines the case of strong sub-nationalism in Tatarstan. Chapter Six examines middling levels of sub-nationalism among formerly nomadic peoples in Bashkortostan and Kalmykia. Chapter Seven then explores cases of mild sub-nationalism, focusing on Chuvashia and other republics in the Volga region. Chapter Eight expands the theoretical framework to a transnational context by examining Tuva’s interactions with the Russian and Chinese empires. Chapter Nine concludes, outlining the application of the theory beyond the Russian context and its implications for scholarship and policy.
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Lenton_gwu_0075A_16455.pdf | 2023-11-14 | Open Access |
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Appendices.docx | 2023-11-14 | Open Access |
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