Constructing Grievance

Elise Giuliano

Description

Demands for national independence among ethnic minorities around the world suggest the power of nationalism. Contemporary nationalist movements can quickly attract fervent followings, but they can just as rapidly lose support. In Constructing Grievance, Elise Giuliano asks why people with ethnic identities throw their support behind nationalism in some cases but remain quiescent in others. Popular support for nationalism, Giuliano contends, is often fleeting. It develops as part of the process of political mobilization-a process that itself transforms the meaning of ethnic identity. She compares sixteen ethnic republics of the Russian Federation, where nationalist mobilization varied widely during the early 1990s despite a common Soviet inheritance. Drawing on field research in the republic of Tatarstan, socioeconomic statistical data, and a comparative discourse analysis of local newspapers, Giuliano argues that people respond to nationalist leaders after developing a group grievance. Ethnic grievances, however, are not simply present or absent among a given population based on societal conditions. Instead, they develop out of the interaction between people's lived experiences and the specific messages that nationalist entrepreneurs put forward concerning ethnic group disadvantage. In Russia, Giuliano shows, ethnic grievances developed rapidly in certain republics in the late Soviet era when messages articulated by nationalist leaders about ethnic inequality in local labor markets resonated with people's experience of growing job insecurity in a contracting economy. In other republics, however, where nationalist leaders focused on articulating other issues, such as cultural and language problems facing the ethnic group, group grievances failed to develop, and popular support for nationalism stalled. People with ethnic identities, Giuliano concludes, do not form political interest groups primed to support ethnic politicians and movements for national secession.

Sujets

• Former Soviet Union
• USSR
• Post-Soviet states
• Eastern Europe
• Soviet Union
• Russia
• Nationalism
• History of Europe
• Activism
• Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques
• Russie

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801460722
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

CONSTRUCTING GRIEVANCE

CONSTRUCTING GRIEVANCE Ethnic Nationalism in Russia’s Republics

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

Elise Giuliano

ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2011 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Giuliano, Elise, 1968–  Constructing grievance : ethnic nationalism in Russia’s republics / Elise Giuliano.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801447457 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Minorities—Political activity—Russia (Federation) 2. Russia (Federation)— Ethnic relations. 3. Nationalism—Russia (Federation) 4. Selfdetermination, National—Russia (Federation) 5. Russia (Federation)—Politics and government— 1991– I. Title.  JN6693.5.M5G58 2011  320.54089'00947—dc22 2010038701

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

List of Figures List of Tables Preface

1.  Ethnic Entrepreneurs, Ordinary People, and Group Grievance 2.  Variation in Mass Nationalism across Russia’s Republics 3.  Does Structure Matter? Local Labor Markets and Social Mobility 4.  Supporting National Sovereignty in Tatarstan 5.  Nationalism in a Socialist Company Town: Tatars, Russians, and the Kamskii Automobile Works in Naberezhnye Chelny 6.  Ethnic Entrepreneurs and the Construction of Group Grievance: Tuva, Mari El, and Komi Compared 7.  Secessionism from the Bottom Up: Democratization, Nationalism, and Local Accountability in Russia 8.  Lessons from Russia: A Critical View of the Relationship between Ethnic Elite Claims and Mass Interests

Bibliography Index

vii ix xi

1

29

60 91

126

145

185

206

215 229

Figures

Map 1.1.  Autonomous areas in Russia Figure 2.1.  Ethnic demonstrations and violent events in Russia’s autonomous republics Figure 2.2.  Titular support for AR declarations of sovereignty Figure 2.3.  Titular support for secession Figure 2.4.  Titulars defining themselves as representative of republic rather than Russia Figure 3.1.  Ratio of titular/Russian representation in whitecollar workforce, 1989 Figure 3.2.  Number of workingage persons without jobs in Russia’s republics, 1985–95 (in thousands) Figure 7.1.  Number of ethnic demonstrations in Russia’s republics versus index of secessionism Figure 7.2.  Number of ethnic demonstrations as a percentage of total demonstrations in Russia’s republics versus index of secessionism Figure 7.3.  Number of ethnic mass violent events in Russia’s republics versus index of secessionism

vii

8

36

39

39

40

78

85

196

198

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Tables

Table 2.1.  Mass nationalism in Russia’s republics, 1989–94 Table 2.2.  Demography and nationalist mobilization in Russia’s republics, 1989 Table 3.1.  Demographic and socioeconomic trends in Russia’s republics Table 3.2.  Index of trends in socioeconomic stratification Table 3.3.  Index of socioeconomic stratification as of 1989 Table 3.4.  Average rank of republics: Index of socioeconomic stratification, 1989 Table 3.5.  Average rank of republics: Index of trends in socioeconomic stratification Table 3.6.  Average rank of Russia’s republics on indexes of socioeconomic stratification Table 3.7.  Nationalism and socioeconomic stratification Table 4.1.  The urbanization of ethnic groups in Tatarstan (%) Table 4.2.  Level of education of Tatarstan’s employed population, 15 years and older (%) Table 4.3.  Ethnic composition of the workforce in Tatarstan Table 4.4.  Percentage of Tatars and Russians employed in various economic sectors, 1989 Table 4.5.  Distribution of employees in Tatarstan by economic sector, 1990–93 (in thousands) Table 4.6.  The effect of ethnicity on which group obtains the most prestigious professions in Tatarstan Table 5.1.  Ethnic composition of KamAZ workforce, 1989

Table 5.2.  Perceptions of change in interethnic relations in Tatarstan, 1990 (%) Table 6.1.  Case selection for discourse analysis Table 6.2.  Issues in the founding charters of nationalist organizations

ix

35

48

66

67

68

81

81

81

87

95

95

98

99

101

116

135

143

151

152