Conflict and Reconstruction in Multiethnic Societies Proceedings of a Russian-American Workshop (2003) / Chapter Skim
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General Analyses Presented at the Interacademy Workshop on December 7, 2001 - Multiethnic States and Conflicts After the USSR
General Analyses Presented at the Interacademy Workshop on December 7, 2001 - Multiethnic States and Conflicts After the USSR
Pages 97-111
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From page 99... ...
TishEov Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences primary purpose of this analysis is to provide an overview of major issues and to determine the most promising areas for a National Academies-Russian Academy of Sciences research project on conflicts in multiethnic societies. TERRITORY, BORDERS, AND RESOURCES Territorial issues over and claims to natural resources are directly related to the status of ethnic relations and potential conflicts.
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From page 100... ...
But, it is much better to build effective cooperation among authorities, armed forces, and special services of the post-Soviet states, rather than installing roadblocks and mine fields. Post-Soviet states possess various territories and natural resources, and no considerable changes took place after the breakup, except for some newly created states losing control over part of their territories because of armed separatist struggles.
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From page 101... ...
is much higher than the strategy of improving governance systems, including improving ethnic relations based on the principles of internal self-determination and democratic governance. The Yugoslavian crisis and the situation in the former Soviet republics marks rethinking of the minority problem, which dominated the second half of the twentieth century and remains vital for the European community and the post-Soviet countries.
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From page 102... ...
In large nations, many natural resources of the former Soviet Union are still being used jointly some nations receive direct benefits from these resources; some nations gain from transportation routes; others do not have any of the above, and therefore, they cannot take any advantage from these resources. With the exception of the Caspian Sea resources and fresh water in Central Asia, there are no disputed natural resources within FSU territory.
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From page 103... ...
Natural population growth (or decline) has no direct link to ethnic relations and ethnic conflicts, although overall political instability and conflicts may have an adverse impact on birth rates and, obviously, on the number of deaths.
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From page 104... ...
In Georgia at least two hundred thousand people were forced to leave Abkhazia and forty thousand left South Ossetia. Sizable movements of people primarily took place between Russia and other former Soviet republics; earlier, it happened between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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From page 105... ...
Xenophobia and incompetence of Russian experts and policy makers channeled energy and fears into the false direction of "consolidating the Russian nation" and "repatriation of the compatriots." Instead of supporting valuable workers from Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine, a federal law was passed, granting preferential treatment to ethnic Russians in the former Soviet republics (most likely, no longer interested in moving to Russia) and the descendants of former Russian emigrants residing primarily in such countries as Israel and the United States.
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From page 106... ...
Obviously, the scope of these conflicts, especially results of the first war in Chechnya the semirecognition of an armed separate region totally outside of the central government's control shocked Russian society and became a serious burden for the present generation of Russian politicians, most of whom are truly concerned about the well-being of their country and their constituencies. Some may argue that there are simple solutions to these problems: let Chechnya (or the entire North Caucasus)
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From page 107... ...
Actual creation of the new states by institution building began after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Russia's route was the most difficult not because it has fewer resources or less reason to become an independent state, but because Russia was the country most closely associated with the FSU, and there was a lack of clarity in the overall direction and objectives of the nation-building process.
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From page 108... ...
As a result, newly created states abandoned the old Soviet concept of multinationalism and embraced the traditional concepts of ethnonationalism, which could be described as follows: Ukraine is defined as a national state of ethnic Ukrainians; all other people are defined as national minorities. They can become members of that nation only through the process of Ukrainization, that is, cultural assimilation, sometimes more softly referred to as integration.
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From page 109... ...
, many of them have a chance to correct the situation and to move away from the principles of ethnonationalism toward truly democratic and all-inclusive principles of state building. With the presence of a huge Russian-language culture in neighboring Russia and the status of the Russian language as one of the leading world languages, newly created states will have serious difficulties trying to eliminate the Russian language from their countries, for example, switching the Gagause population in Moldova from the Russian to the Moldovan language, as part of the derussipcation of the non-Russian ethnic groups.
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From page 110... ...
Recent years proved that in an underdeveloped civil rights culture, ethnic rights can be used to support ungrounded claims and demands, impose minority rule, and even bring down the central state through an armed separatist movement. These practices exacerbate ethnic tensions and distrust in the rest of the population.
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From page 111... ...
MULTIETHNIC STATES AND CONFLICTS AFTER THE USSR 111 lions such as mountainous democracy and tribal communities. It is the recognition of legal pluralism arising from ethnic diversity that is important as long as these different legal traditions do not undermine the fundamental principles of state and do not provoke a mass exodus from the legal framework.
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