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Abstract
This article seeks to further the understanding of language policy in Tatarstan by examining the development of language legislation and policies in the republic in the post-Soviet period and by placing the issue of language policy within a federal – republican context. The article finds that asymmetrical federalism is an appropriate and workable response to Tatarstan's demands for policy capacity over issues pertaining to language. It is Russia's federal design itself, and not processes of ad hoc constitutional bargaining, which creates governance capacity in this policy area and provides Tatarstan with the de jure power to implement measures to protect the Tatar language.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank James Hughes, Gwendolyn Sasse, Bhavna Dave and Kim Meier for their comments on earlier versions of this article, as well as the journal's two anonymous referees for their very constructive and detailed suggestions. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Association of Commonwealth Universities as well as the assistance provided by Sergei Erofeev and Mikhail Rudenko at Kazan' State University.
Notes
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Author's interviews with Liliya Sagitova, Kazan', 24 June 2004; and Damir Iskhakov, Kazan', 4 June 2004.
Author's interview with Damir Iskhakov, Kazan', 4 June 2004.
Sovetskaya Tatariya, 8 December 1989.
Sovetskaya Tatariya, 14 February 1991.
Sovetskaya Tatariya, 7 December 1989.
Sovetskaya Tatariya, 30 August 1990.
Sovetskaya Tatariya, 25 January and 27 February 1992.
All references are to the amended version of the law.
I provide a discussion of how these legislative provisions work in practice in the section on implementation below.
Although Russia's federal constitution provides for the bilateral regulation of joint powers and opens the door for the creation of political asymmetries (which led to the signature of dozens of bilateral treaties and intergovernmental agreements), only two constitutional asymmetries are built-in. See Watts (Citation1999, pp. 63 – 68) for a discussion of the political/constitutional distinction.
The law was originally introduced in 1991 but all references in this article are to the amended version of 2002.
Author's interviews with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004 and Ildar Galiakhmetov, Kazan', 4 June 2004.
Author's interview with Fariya Shaikhieva, Kazan', 11 June 2004.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 17 May 2004.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Respublika Tatarstan, 27 July 1996; Respublika Tatarstan, 22 May 1997. See also the interviews with officials Kim Minnullin in Vostochnyi Ekspress, 8 February 2002 and Fariya Shaikhieva in Respublika Tatarstan, 11 May 2007, in which they discuss the consistent under-funding of republican language policy.
Respublika Tatarstan, 22 May 1997.
Kazan'skie Vedomosti, 1 July 1999.
Author's interview with Damir Iskhakov, Kazan', 4 June 2004.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004.
According to the website of the Government of Tatarstan, the department currently employs six specialists, available at: http://prav.tatar.ru/apparat/structure_list.htm?department_id=44, accessed 13 August 2007.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004.
Respublika Tatarstan, 11 May 2007.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Author's interview with Ildar Galiakhmetov, manager of the Department of Education of Kazan', Kazan', 4 June 2004.
Ministry of Education of Tatarstan, ‘Statistics on the Development of National Education in Tatarstan 1991 – 2004’, 2005, available at: http://www.tatedu.ru/index.php?link=138&st=623&type=3&str=1&parent_m=135, accessed 17 August 2005.
Author's interview with Ildar Galiakhmetov, Kazan', 4 June 2004.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Tatar-Bashkir Daily Report, 26 July 2001.
Vostochnyi Ekspress, 25 June 2004.
Respublika Tatarstan, 27 March 2004.
Respublika Tatarstan, 24 June 2004.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Author's interview with Luiza Bairamova, Kazan', 29 June 2004.
R. N. Musina, ‘Ethnic Identity of Tatars and Russians in Post-Soviet Tatarstan’, paper delivered at the ICCEES World Congress, Berlin, July 2005.
Author's interview with Luiza Bairamova, Kazan', 29 June 2004.
Author's interview with Luiza Bairamova, Kazan', 29 June 2004.
Author's interview with Aleksandr Salagaev, Kazan', 22 June 2004.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004.
Author's personal copy of draft versions of the 2004 State Programme.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 17 May 2004.
I am grateful to the anonymous reviewer for providing insight on the transliteration of this word.
Respublika Tatarstan, 22 September 2001.
Kazan'skie Vedomosti, 12 October 1999.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004.
Vremya i Den'gi, 5 April 2001 and 27 July 2001; author's interview with Rafael Khakimov, Kazan', 12 April 2004.
Tatar-Bashkir Daily Report, 22 April 2005.
Zvezda Povolzh'ya, 28 December 2002.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 1 March 2001.
Vremya i Den'gi, 12 October 2001.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 14 September 2001.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 22 September 2001; author's interviews with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004, and with Rafael Khakimov, Kazan', 12 April 2004.
Respublika Tatarstan, 30 August 2002.
Author's interview with Liliya Sagitova, Kazan', 24 June 2004.
Author's interview with Midkhat Farukshin, Kazan', 23 April 2004.
Author's interview with Damir Iskhakov, Kazan', 4 June 2004.
Itogi, 11 June 2002.
Tatar-Bashkir Daily Report, 13 March 2002.
Tatar-Bashkir Daily Report, 20 and 21 September 2002.
Stenogramme of State Duma Proceedings, 5 June 2002, available at: http://dlib.eastview.com/sources/article.jsp?id=4151414, accessed 30 April 2004.
Izvestiya, 13 December 2002.
Respublika Tatarstan, 27 March 2004.
Respublika Tatarstan, 22 September 2001.
Respublika Tatarstan, 22 January and 30 January 2004.
Izvestiya, 25 December 2003.
Author's interview with Razil' Valeev, Kazan', 1 June 2004.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 6 October 2004.
Ria novosti, 16 November 2004.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 17 December 2004.
Tatar-Bashkir Daily Report, 19 November 2004.
Izvestiya, 17 November 2004.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 17 December 2004.
Tatar-Bashkir Daily Report, 22 November 2004.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 6 October 2004.
Vechernyaya Kazan', 18 December 2001; Tatar-Bashkir Daily Report, 18 December 2001.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 17 November 2004.
Respublika Tatarstan, 30 March 2006.
Russian Regional Report, 24 January 2001.
Author's interview with Kim Minnullin, Kazan', 11 June 2004.