O. V. Bakhlova, I. V. Bakhlov. State Policy of Nation-Building in Russia: Content, Institutions and Mechanisms

UDK 316.334.3

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15507/2413-1407.107.027.201903.413-435

Introduction. The relevance of the study is due to the need to effectively support the process of nation-building which implies coping with social and political tasks that are fundamental for the Russian state and the population of the country. This is the completion of the formation of the Russian nation, ensuring civil, ethno-cultural, and territorial identities, taking into account their balanced and harmonious coexistence and development, preservation and strengthening of national identity in the adverse conditions of global, regional and internal trends and challenges. The purpose of the study is to conceptualize the state policy of nation-building in modern Russia and to identify its content, institutions and mechanisms of formation and implementation by means of interpreting expert assessments and the practice of the responsible bodies in the structure of the federal government.

Materials and Methods. The study is based on the materials of an expert survey on the issues of nation-building, on the data from the official websites of the relevant committees of the State Duma and the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, as well as from the System for ensuring legislative activity. The analysis of the activities of parliamentary committees was performed using institutional, comparative, and the formal legal methods.

Results. The authors have proposed a variant of the conceptualization of the state policy of nation-building through creating a hierarchy of factors of nation-building, highlighting its key areas, methods and technologies, explaining the specifics of the normative consolidation, the structure and the implementation mechanisms. In terms of the inventory, codification and demonstration of the issue, the status-role characteristics of the parliamentary institutions involved in the nation-building process have been identified and emphasized.

Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study have theoretical and practical significance. The systemic idea of the essence and content of the state policy of nation-building has been formulated and substantiated. The main areas of concern, the established constants, and new vectors in the activities of the relevant committees and in the relations between the federal bodies of legislative and executive power have been revealed. The results of the study can be used to improve their work in various areas of the public policy focused on promoting nation-building, expanding and deepening the dialogue between the authorities and non-governmental institutions.

Keywords: state policy of nation building, national policy, parliamentary committees, spatial development, regional policy, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, federal structure

Funding. The study was carried out with the financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the project ‘Spatial Development of Russia as a Factor of Nation-Building and Formation of the National Idea’ No. 18-011-00364 A.

REFERENCES

1. Bakhlova O.V., Bakhlov I.V. Conceptualization of the Concept of “Nation Building” in Political Discourse. Socialno-politicheskie nauki = Sociopolitical Sciences. 2018; (2):26-29. Available at: http://urvak.ru/articles/sotsia-vypusk-2-kontseptualizatsiya-ponyatiya-nats (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

2. Boiko S.I. The Concept of Nation: A Theoretical Background. Politologicheskaya kontseptologiya = Political Conceptology. 2014; (4):68-103. Available at: http://politconcept.sfedu.ru/2014.4/06.pdf (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

3. Semenenko I. Nations, Nationalism, National Identity: New Dimensions in Academic Discourse. Mirovaya ehkonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya = World Economy and International Relations. 2015; (11):91-102. Available at: https://www.imemo.ru/jour/meimo/index.php?page_id=1248&file=https://www.... (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

4. Aktürk Ş. Regimes of Ethnicity and Nationhood in Germany, Russia, and Turkey. Cambridge; 2012. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139108898

5. Giuliano E. Constructing Grievance: Ethnic Nationalism in Russia’s Republics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; 2011. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt7v7n7 (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Eng.)

6. Stroschein Sh. Ethnic Struggle, Coexistence, and Democratization in Eastern Europe. NY: Cambridge University Press; 2012. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511793769

7. Makarychev A., Yatsyk A. Biopolitics and National Identities: Between Liberalism and Totalization. Nationalities Papers. 2017; 45(1):1-7. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2016.1225705

8. Makarychev A., Yatsyk A. Illiberal Geographies: Popular Geopolitics and Russian Biopolitical Regionalism. Eurasian Geography and Economics. 2018; 59(1):51-72. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2018.1434804

9. Prina F. National Minorities in Putin’s Russia: Diversity and Assimilation. London; NY: Routledge; 2016. Available at: https://www.routledge.com/National-Minorities-in-Putins-Russia-Diversity... (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Eng.)

10. Brubaker R. Nationalizing States Revisited: Projects and Processes of Nationalization in Post-Soviet States. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 2011; 34(11):1785-1814. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.579137

11. Daly S.Z. State Strategies in Multi-Ethnic Territories: Explaining Variation in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. British Journal of Political Science. 2014; 44(2):381-408. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123412000701

12. Kudaibergenova D.T. The Archaeology of Nationalizing Regimes in the Post-Soviet Space: Narratives, Elites, and Minorities. Problems of Post-Communism. 2016; 68(5):342-355. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2016.1184983

13. Letnyakov D.E. Politico-Ideological Trends of Post-Soviet Societies: An Attempt of Generalization. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya = Polis. Political Studies. 2018; (1):129-142. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2018.01.09

14. Pantin V.I., Lapkin V.V. Ethnopolitical and Ethnosocial Processes in Post-Soviet Countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine Cases). Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya = Polis. Political Studies. 2015; (5):75-93. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2015.05.07

15. Semenenko I.S., Lapkin V.V., Bardin A.L., Pantin V.I. Between the State and the Nation: Dilemmas of Identity Policy in Post-Soviet Societies. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya = Polis. Political Studies. 2017; (5):54-78. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.05.05

16. Urazbaev Е.Е. [Ethno-National Policy in Latvia and Estonia in the Context of the Institutionalization of Nationalism]. Vlast = Power. 2017; 25(6):146-152. Available at: http://jour.isras.ru/upload/journals/2/articles/5192/submission/original... (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

17. Mylonas H. Methodological Problems in the Study of Nation-Building: Behaviorism and Historicist Solutions in Political Science. Social Science Quarterly. 2015; 96(3):740-758. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12189

18. Wimmer A. Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together while Others Fall Apart. Survival. 2018; 60(4):151-164. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2018.1495442

19. Gadzhiev K.S. Russian Federation: National State or a State of Nations? Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya = Polis. Political Studies. 2018; (3):130-146. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2018.03.09

20. Kara-Murza S.G. State Nation-Building Policy in Today’s Russia. Kontury globalnykh transformatsij: politika, ehkonomika, pravo = Outlines of Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, Law. 2011; 4(3):62-76. Available at: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=16459092 (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

21. Kolstø P., Blakkisrud H., eds. The New Russian Nationalism: Imperia-lism, Ethnicity and Authoritarianism 2000–2015. Edinburgh; 2016. Available at: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-new-russian-nationalism.html (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Eng.)

22. Laine V. Contemporary. Russian Nationalisms: The State, Nationalist Movements, and the Shared Space in Between. Nationalities Papers. 2017; 45(2):222-237. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2016.1272562

23. Torbakov I. A Parting of Ways?: The Kremlin Leadership and Russia’s New-Generation Nationalist Thinkers. Demokratizatsiya. 2015; 23(4):427-457. Available at: http://muse.jhu.edu/article/602733 (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Eng.)

24. Warhola J.W., Lehning A. Political Order, Identity, and Security in Multinational, Multi-Religious Russia. Nationalities Papers. 2007; 35(5):933-957. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905990701651901

25. Shcherbak A., Sych K. Trends in Russian Nationalities Policy: A Structural Perspective. Problems of Post-Communism. 2017; 64(6). (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2016.1225264

26. Volkov Yu.G., Denisova G.S., Lubsky A.V. Regulation of Inter-Ethnic Relations: The Formation of Value Policy and Regional Practices of Management in Modern Russia. Vlast = Power. 2017; 25(7):13-22. Available at: http://jour.isras.ru/upload/journals/2/articles/5232/submission/original... (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

27. Farukshin M.Kh. Institutional Foundations of Ethnic Federations. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya = Polis. Political Studies. 2017; (2):103-111. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.02.07

28. Shkel S.N. Bastions of Tradition: The Ethnic Factor and Machine Politics in the Russian Regions. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya = Polis. Political Studies. 2019; (1):49-70. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2019.01.05

29. Sergeeva S.L. Formation of the “Guard Development” – The New National Patriotic Elite of Modern Russia in the Context of Globalization Challenges. Vestnik Rossijskoj natsii = Bulletin of Russian Nation. 2018; (4):144-155. Available at: http://rosnation.ru/?page_id=3975 (accessed 27.05.2019). (In Russ.)

Submitted 28.05.2019; accepted for publication 24.06.2019; published online 30.09.2019.

About the authors:

Olga V. Bakhlova, Professor, Department of World History, Political Science and Regional Studies, National Research Mordovia State University (68/1 Bolshevistskaya St., Saransk 430005, Russia), Dr. Sci. (Political Science), ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3849-8321, olga.bahlova@mail.ru

Igor V. Bakhlov, Head of the Department of World History, Political Science and Regional Studies, National Research Mordovia State University (68/1 Bolshevistskaya St., Saransk 430005, Russia), Dr. Sci. (Political Science), ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6886-5762, bahlov@mail.ru

Contribution of the authors:

Olga V. Bakhlova – collection, processing and analysis of information; writing the initial version of the text of the article; critical analysis of the materials.

Igor V. Bakhlov – concept study; critical analysis and revision of the text of the article.

For citation:

Bakhlova O.V., Bakhlov I.V. State Policy of Nation-Building in Russia: Content, Institutions and Mechanisms. Regionology = Russian Journal of Regional Studies. 2019; 27(3):413-435. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15507/2413-1407.107.027.201903.413-435

The authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
To download article