Soviet and Post-Soviet

Abstract

Since the collapse of the Soviet multinational state-empire, nationalism in post-Soviet states has been the subject of an ever-increasing number of studies. Post-Soviet scholars have adopted a wide variety of studies on different aspects of the relationship between nation- and state-building projects. In the midst of this burgeoning interest in post-Soviet nationalism, however, there has been relatively little interest in the Soviet era itself. Recent studies provide a valuable re-assessment of some aspects of the ‘national question’ in the Soviet Union. However, the scope of these studies has been relatively limited, and primarily undertaken as historical research. An example can be found in the works of Ronald Suny and Terry Martin. These two authors have re-opened evaluations of the early Soviet period and the ‘national question’. However, they focus mostly on the Leninist and Stalinist periods of Soviet history (Martin, 2001; Suny and Kennedy, 1999). Most recent studies of the Soviet Union generally do not study the entire Soviet project; and even if they do, very few have attempted to link it to the post-Soviet projects taking place today. With the exception of Ronald Suny and Rogers Brubaker, (Brubaker, 1996; Suny, 1999), there has been relatively little theoretical discussion of the Soviet nationalities model and its importance for understanding nationalism.