Nationalism in the USSR: a historical and comparative perspective

Abstract

The late 1980s and early 1990s were characterized by the sudden rise of nationalist movements in almost all Soviet ethnic regions. It is argued that the rise of political nationalism since the late 1980s can be explained by the development of cultural nationalism in the previous decades, as an unintended outcome of Communist nationalities policy. All ethnic regions are examined throughout the entire history of the USSR (49 regions, 1917–1991), using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. This paper aims to make at least three contributions to the field. First, it is a methodological contribution for studying nationalism: a “quantification of history” approach. Having constructed variables from historical data, I use conventional statistical methods such as SEM. Second, this paper contributes to the theoretical debate about the role of cultural autonomy in multiethnic states. Finally, the paper statistically proves that the break between early Soviet and Stalinist nationalities policy explains the entire Soviet nationalities policy.

Keywords:

• nationalism
• ethnicity
• culture
• USSR
• SEM

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Corrigendum

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at 1080/00905992.2015.1072811.

ORCID

Andrey Shcherbak http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1756-1122

Notes

1. These parts are The Republic of Estonia in Estonia; The Lithuanian Republic in Lithuania; The Latvian Republic in Latvia; The Ukrainian People's Republic, Skoropadskii's Government, and the Crimean Regional Government in Ukraine; Belarus People's Republic in Belarus; Moldovan Democratic Republic in Moldova; Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in Azerbaijan; Georgian Democratic Republic in Georgia; Republic of Armenia in Armenia; Alash-Orda in Kazakhstan; Transcaspian Provisional Government in Turkmenistan; Turkestan Autonomy in Central Asia; the Idel-Ural Project in Tatarstan; Bashkurdistan in Bashkiria; the Gorskaya-Mountain Republic in Dagestan; North Caucasian Emirate in Chechnya; Ingria, The North Karelian Government, and the Olonets Government in Karelia; the Buriat-Mongol State in Buriatia; the Karakorum Altai District in the Altai Republic; the Provisional Yakut Regional People Government; and the Tyva People's Republic.

2. This figure includes (a) 14 union republics (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan); (b) 21 autonomous republics within the Russian Federation (Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Adygeia, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Kalmykia, Mordovia, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, Komi, Mari El, Buriatia, Tyva, Yakutia, Altai, Khakassia, and Karelia); (c) 11 NADs (Chukotskii AO, Nenetskii AO, Komi-Permiatskii AO, Khanty-Mansi AO, Yamalo-Nenetskii AO, Koriakskii AO, Ust’-Ordynskii Buriatskii AO, Aginskii-Buriatskii AO, Evenkskii AO, Taymyrskii AO, and Evreiskaia AO); (d) 3 autonomous republics/districts from other union republics (Abkhazia, Nakhichevan AO, and Nagorny-Karabakh AO).

Additional information

Funding

The article was prepared within the framework of a subsidy granted to the HSE by the Government of the Russian Federation for the implementation of the Global Competitiveness Program.