National Policy in a Multinational state: Balance of Interests or Hegemony of Powers that Be?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the basic principles and types of implementation of national policies in multinational states . We give examples from world practice that reveal the problems of the coexistence of various nations in a single political space . In the article, the authors analyse in detail the well-known causes and models of the formation of large multi-ethnic states, in which there is an urgent need for a national policy based on certain principles that directly depend on the strategy of building the leading political institution . The author draws attention to the evolutionary variability of approaches to state-building while maintaining significant features, but adapted to modern realities . The Russian experience of interethnic interaction, national self-determination and attempts to unify cultural, confessional, linguistic identity, suppression of separatist sentiments, the reasons for the appearance of which are particularly highlighted as one of the main categories characterizing the feasibility, relevance, and foresight of the development strategy of national relations, are examined in detail . Legal consolidation of the Concept of state national policy of the Russian Federation stands out as the most democratic event in Modern Russia, aimed at maintaining state integrity, preventing separatist sentiments . We also give the classification of interethnic conflicts on various grounds known in world practice . Finally, we propose a set of measures for the long-term harmonisation of interethnic interaction in the Russian Federation .