Geographies of the National Question
Dr. Zoltán Grossman
Geography/World Indigenous Peoples Studies,
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wash.
Northern Ireland
(Catholics vs. Protestants)
Same race, language
Different religion
(and class, ethnic group?)
Loyalist
(Protestant)
and Republican
(Catholic) murals
in Belfast
Protestant Ulster majority
loyal to U.K.
Poorer Catholic minority
for joining Ireland.
Rwanda
(Hutus vs. Tutsis)
Same race, language,
religion
Different ethnic group;
one favored by Belgian
colonialists
Genocide against
Tutsi minority and
moderate Hutus, 1994.
War against Hutu refugees
in Congo, 2000s.
Bosnia
(Orthodox Serbs vs. Muslim Bosniaks vs. Catholic Croats)
Same race, spoken language
Different religion,
script, “ethnic” group
Intermarried, cooperated,
1950s-80s; at war 1990s
Muslim and
Serb refugees
from Sarajevo
Somalia
Same race, language,
religion, and ethnic group !
Yet 1990s civil war
between clan militias
Contending theories
Ethnic hatred is ancient,
always there; politics
can keep a “lid” on it
Ethnic hatred is modern tool
used for political and
economic power
Bosnia
partition plan
Communism collapses in
Eastern Europe, 1989
Croatian and Serbian leaders
stoke ethnic hatred after 1989
Explaining interethnic cooperation
(Fearon/Laitin)
Cooperation is more the norm than conflict;
Prejudice always exists but crisis of
economy or power turns it into violence
Macedonian Slav
and Albanian kids
in Open Fun
Football School
Territoriality
Control people by controlling space:
Classification (boundaries for ease of control),
Communication (of in/out rules),
Enforcement (to punish transgression)
Types of territoriality
State
Ethnic
Religious
Fears of
Balkanization
(splitting state
into ethnic or
religious parts)
Types of territoriality
State
(patriotism)
Ethnic
(nationalism)
Religious
Racial
State territoriality
(“patriotism”)
Place identity based on political unit
(Serbian, Croatian)
“I am an American.” (Civil wars)
“I am a Nigerian.”
State Sovereignty
Exercise of power
over people and territory.
Boundaries recognized
by other states.
Global system of
sovereign states
NATION
Not a state:
A cultural group with a territorial identity;
stitching together many local identities
Over 5,000 ethnic
“nations” cannot all
become states, yet
many are large
enough to survive
(larger than some states).
Theories of European nationhood
Primordialism
(nation is essential/family, in the “blood”)
Instrumentalism
(nation is top-down, self-serving project of elites)
Constructivism
(nation is constructed both by elites and masses)
Urbanization
Transmission Belt for nationalism
(Ernest Gellner)
Constructed in urban areas
by intellectual elites
but extols rural peasantry
Local to National Identity
(Eugèn Weber)
• Nations patched together
from local dialects
• Central dialect selected
as standard
(Parisian, Queen’s English)
• Construct national identity
through education, print
Local-Scale Identities
• Identity of multiethnic region
(Carpathian Rus, Vojvodina, Transylvania)
• Identity of town, city or valley (Pec, Kosovo)
Local scale seen as provincial, but can be inclusive
(Iraqi tribe can be Shia and Sunni together)
Expanding scale seen as cosmopolitan (Tuan), but can
be more exclusive (Greater Serbia, Greater Albania)
Ethnic territoriality
(“nationalism”)
Place identity based on ethnicity
(Serb, Croat)
Basques in Spain/France
Québécois in Canada
Social and Territorial
Definitions of Place
Bosnian
Serb
ethnic flag
Bosnia
multiethnic
state flag
• SOCIAL
Defines place as belonging
to one ethnic or racial group
(Jus Sanguinis: “Law of the Blood”)
• TERRITORIAL
Defines place/state geographically
as home for all who live there
(Jus Soli: “Law of the Soil”)
So-called “ethnic cleansing”
to match ethnic, state boundaries
Homeland: Territorialization of national identity
Past:
Golden Age
Past independence/autonomy of
(usually larger) territory
Present:
Cohesion/Security
Cultural, Linguistic, Territorial
Future:
Prosperity /Glory
Economic viability, preferably political
viability (autonomy or independence)
Battle of Kosovo Polje
(Blackbird Field), 1389
Battle of Kosovo Polje
(Blackbird Field), 1389
Muslim Turks defeat
Serbian (and Albanian!)
Christians under
Prince Lazar.
Knights’ blood
“turns into” red poppies.
Sacred site for
Serbian nationalism vs.
Albanian nationalism,
1989-1999
NATION-STATE
State with one nation
(none “pure” but some close)
Nearly all states multiethnic
(more than one nation)
Nation-States and Multiethnic States
National Congruence
Desire for nation-state
(state boundaries to match
ethnic boundaries)
* If minority wants
self-determination-declare independence or
autonomy (limited self-rule)
Boundaries of Albania
in different eras
* If majority does not
want minority—assimilate,
kill or expel them
Ethnic Territory Typology
(John Coakley)
• Cohesiveness (size) within territory
• Concentration of total members in territory
1. Strong majority/High concentration (Slovenia)
2. Strong majority/Low concentration (Aland Swedes)
3. Weak plurality/High concentration (Bosnia)
4. Weak plurality/Low concentration (Birobijan Jews)
Kurds
Ethnic group in
Turkey, Iraq,
Iran, Syria.
Many Kurds
for independence
of Kurdistan
(autonomy in Iraq)
States pit Kurds
against each other
(state territoriality wins)
Activation of ethnic territoriality
Demographic trends
(shrinking or growing relative to other groups)
Cultural trends
(language use lessening
or growing)
Economic trends
(getting poorer or better off)
Political trends
(getting repressed or
gaining autonomy/
rising expectations)
Religious Territoriality
States defined by religion
Vatican
City
Saudi
Arabia
Vatican
City
Israel
Iran
Israelis
Zionism:
Jewish (religious) territoriality
Israelis are multiethnic
European, Middle Eastern,
Newer Russian, Ethiopian immigrants
Arab Israeli minority
Palestinians
(in West Bank, E. Jerusalem, Gaza Strip)
Arab (ethnic) territoriality
Palestinians are multireligious
Muslims and Christians
Ethnic nationalist movement,
but later Islamist groups
Iraq
Ethnic:
Arabs vs.
Kurds
Religion:
Sunnis vs.
Shi’as
Rulers were
Sunni Arab,
now Shia
Iranians
Iran-Iraq War,
1980-88
IRAN (Shi’a Persian) vs.
IRAQ (Sunni Arab)
Yet Iraqi Shi’as fought for Iraq,
Iranian Arabs fought for Iran
(State territoriality won)
Iraqis
Armenia-Azerbaijan
War, 1988-94
ARMENIA (Christian) vs.
AZERBAIJAN (Shi’a Muslim)
Yet Shi’a Iran stayed neutral,
fearing ethnic Azeris in NW Iran
(Ethnic territoriality won)
Armenian (above)
and Azeri views
Racial Territoriality
States defined by race
White supremacist map for
a racial partition of the U.S.
South Africa’s White
and Black areas under
Apartheid (racial
separation)
South African Black Homelands
“Bantustans” forced on Blacks
76% of
population
given 13%
of land;
denied
citizenship
in rest
(ethnocide)
South African Apartheid
(racial separation), 1948-94
Core group
States are constructed around a
dominant ethnic, racial or religious group
English in U.K.
Russians in U.S.S.R. & Russia
Whites in U.S.
Majority nationalism
Equating “patriotism”
with “nationalism”
State usually represents core group,
but also concedes to minorities
so they will be loyal, not rebel
Hindu mobs attack Indian
Muslim neighborhood
English attack
immigrants
KKK rally against immigrants, 1925
German skinheads
attack Turks
Minority nationalism
For “self-determination”
Not only secession but autonomy
Reaction to majority nationalism?
What if minority becomes majority?
Puerto
Rico
East Timor
Lithuania
Secession
Separation from state
(independence)
Autonomy (self-rule)
not offered, or not
enough
Recognized by
other states
Irredentism
Joining ethnic minority with a
country where they are majority,
To form Greater________
Germany annexes ethnic German region of Czechoslovakia, 1938
State response to minority: Coercion
Ethnocide
(forced assimilation)
Genocide
Hungarian sign defaced in Romania.
Turks forced to
change names in Bulgaria.
=
”Kill the Indian, not the man”
in boarding schools
(extermination)
Holocaust in Europe
(Not only Germany)
Ethnic cleansing
Forced removal of
an ethnic group
To match ethnic, state boundaries;
increase majority percentage
Serbs expelled
from Krajina
(Croatia), 1995
Albanians
expelled
from Kosovo
(Serbia), 1999
State response:
Unitary system
Central government holds power;
No autonomy for ethnic minorities
State response:
Autonomy
Ethnic minorities
can rule themselves
in special regions
within the state
China settling
ethnic Chinese in
“autonomous”
regions
Autonomous
regions of Spain.
Flag of Catalonia
alongside Spain
and EU flags
Indian Reservations (autonomy)
Inuit (Eskimo) territory of Nunavut
1999
Canada
State response:
Ethnic Federalism
Territorial units
represent different
ethnic groups
Other large multiethnic
federations have failed
(Yugoslavia, USSR)
Languages and states of India
Confederalism
Devolution (transfer)
of most power from central
government to regions
Bosnia after civil war
ended in 1995, divided
into strong Serb and
Muslim-Croat regions
Confederacy
declared, 1861.
“States’ Rights”
after Civil War
ended in 1865.
Nationalism in the Former Soviet Bloc
Growth of Russian Empire
Lenin on national self-determination
• Nationalism of the oppressor vs.
Nationalism of the oppressed
• Criticized Russian
majority nationalism
• Independence for Poland,
Finland, Baltic states
• Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR), 1922
Stalin on nationalism
• Ethnic Georgian
(Dzhugashvili)
but pro-Russian
• Feared, repressed ethnic
minorities & religions
• Russification of
minorities (Cyrillic)
• Ruled republics through
Russified elites, money
Stalin on nationalism
• Constructed ethnic groups
from local identities
• Divide-and-rule through
ethnic boundaries
– “Booby traps” of
minorities within republics
• Yet boundaries
strengthened national
identity of titular groups
Russian nationalism in WWII
• Stalin used “Mother Russia” to rally USSR
• “Traitorous” minority ethnic groups
– Some initially welcomed
Germans (or outdid them)
– But Nazis wanted
Lebensraum (Living Space)
– Stalin relocates ethnic
Germans, Chechens, etc.
Dominant (titular)
groups in 15
Soviet republics
All had minorities
14 republics
outside Russia
(“Near Abroad”) have
Russian minorities
Ethnic minority areas within S.S.R.s
Nagorno-Karabakh
Ethnic Armenian region, but part of Azerbaijan
(booby trap); War in 1988-94
Chechnya
• Muslim region of Russia
declared independence; beat
Russians in 1990, 1994-96
• Putin fears Kosovo precedent;
flattens Grozny, 2000
RUSSIANS OUTSIDE RUSSIA
Fears that
Russian
ethnic
territoriality
would turn
irredentist
25 million
people
(17% of all
Russians)
Russians in Ukraine
• 22% of population
(up from 10% in 1926)
Russians in
lighter green
in east, south
• Concentrated in cities east of
Dnieper River
(Donbass industrial region)
• Also on Crimean Peninsula
in Black Sea
• Ukraine, Russia mutually dependent
Russians in Crimea (Ukraine)
• Crimea former homeland of Crimean Tatars
(removed by Stalin)
• Was part of RSFSR;
given to Ukrainian SSR
as Khrushchev’s
1954 birthday present
Simferopol parliament
Crimea
Russians 70% of
population, elected
separatist leader 1994
Crisis over splitting
Black Sea Fleet between
Russia and Ukraine
Reconciliation 1997-2000
Russians in Kazakhstan
• Russian 35%; only some have left
• Mainly in northern steppe/
“Virgin Lands”
• Also in cities (Almaty)
• Capital shifted to northern city of
Aqmola, renamed Astana (“Capital”)
Baltic
Russians
• 29% Estonia
(42% Tallinn,
95% Narva)
• 33% Latvia
(47% Riga)
• 8% Lithuania
(20% Vilnius)
Russians in Baltic States
• Have long history in Baltics
(part of Russian Empire)
• Most settled after 1940
annexation (esp. officers)
• Pre-1940 residency or language
requirements for citizenship
• Older Russians not learning,
younger people see as minority
apart from Russia
Russians/Ukrainians in Moldova
• 27% of Moldova (Bessarabia)
• Concentrated in industrial zone
east of Dniester River (not Romanian)
• Feared Moldova would
be part of Greater Romania
annexation like in WWII
Russians/Ukrainians
in Moldova
(Transdniestria)
• Declared independence 1992
(also Gagauz Turks in south)
• Russian Gen. Lebed’s 14th Army
aided secessionists
• Lebed relieved 1994, but troops stay
Modernizers vs. Slavophiles
Westernizers:
Lean to Europe
Eurasianists:
Europe-Asia bridge
Pro-industrial
Pro-peasantry
Capitalists & Socialists
Royalists & populists
Russia as state
Russia as ethnic nation
What is Russia?
State vs. Ethnic Territoriality
ETHNIC (Lebed, Slavophiles)
Bring all Russians into Russia,
but let Chechens go from Russia
STATE (Yeltsin, Modernizers)
Leave Russians outside Russia,
but keep Chechens in Russia by force
Yugoslavia-USSR parallels
Belgrade, Serbia
Dominant capital
Moscow, Russia
Orthodox Serbs
outside Serbia
Irredentism
Orthodox Russians
outside Russia
Kosovo Muslims
in Serbia
Secession
Chechen Muslims
in Russia
Milosevic, Putin emphasize both ethnic and state territoriality;
Overextend reach of Serbia & Russia