Provisional Stabilities: The Politics of Indentities in Post-Soviet Eurasia

Abstract

Our final two articles consider the impact of ethnic identity in Eurasia following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of fifteen nation-states that are home to a variety of dispersed ethnic communities. Each reflects on the multilayered meaning of the term "ethnicity" and its complex relationship to national and international politics.  Ronald Grigor Suny of the University of Chicago seeks to dispel the notion that ethnicity is "essentialist, holistic, and homogeneous." Using a constructivist approach to the study of ethnic and national conflicts, Suny holds that it is fallacious to assume that nations and states possess a single identity that drives their domestic and foreign policies. Rather, "political actors are capable of employing various identities…that shape their attitudes in domestic and international arenas."