Chapter 8 Key Issue 2

Why are Nation-states Difficult to Create?

  • nation-states are difficult to create because it’s near impossible to only have a singular ethnicity in a state

  • in multinational states

    • ethnicities can coexist peacefully, while remaining different

    • a singular ethnicity could try to dominate another

Nation-states and Multinational States

multiethnic state: a state that contains more than one ethnicity

multinational state: a country that contains more than one ethnicity with traditions of self-determination

Nation-states in Europe

Denmark

  • 90% of population are ethnic Danes

    • have a strong sense of unity from shared cultural characteristics and attitudes from hundreds of years ago

    • nearly all speak Danish

  • other 10% are ethnic minorities

    • guest workers from Turkey

    • refugees from ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia

  • Denmark controls 2 territories where few Danes live

    • Faeroe Islands

      • speak Faeroese

    • Greenland

      • only 12% are Danish

      • the rest are native-born Greenlanders, mainly Inuit

Slovenia

  • became an independent country after Yugoslavia

  • 83% are Slovenes

    • holds nearly all the world’s 2 million Slovenes

  • migrants are attracted to Slovenia

  • boundary changes have caused Slovenes living in Italy and Italians living in Slovenia

Nation-states and Ethnic Identity

  • Europeans thought ethnicity was left behind as an insignificant relic

  • in the 2000s, ethnic identity has become important in the creation of nation-states in Europe once again

  • breakup of Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia has given oppotunities to organize nation-states

  • less-numerous ethnicites found themselves living as minorities

  • Communist leaders in Europe used centripetal forces to discourage ethnicities from having cultural uniquness

  • “social realism” emphasized Communist economic and political values

    • Russian was heavily promoted

    • role of religion was minimized

  • Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Cezchoslovakia fell because minority ethnicities fought back and wanted their own nation-states

Independent Nation-States in Former Soviet Republics

  • Soviet Union had consisted of 15 republics, based on its 15 largest ethnicites, consisting of five groups

    • 3 Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

    • 3 European states: Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine

    • 5 Central Asian states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzebkistan

    • 3 Caucasus states: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia

    • Russia

  • decent examples of nation-states appeared out of the Baltic, European, and Central Asian states

  • Caucasus states and Russia have not been formed into peaceful nation-states

    • Russia is an example of a state struggling with keeping all its ethnicities contented

  • less-numerous ethnicities are divided among these new states

Baltic States

  • were independent countries between the end of WWI (in 1918 and 1940), when Soviet Union annexed them under an agreement with Nazi Germany

  • Lithuania

    • most closely fits the definition of a nation-state

    • ethnic Lithuanians are 85% of population

      • most are Roman Catholic

      • most speak a language of the Baltic group in the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European family

  • Estonia

    • ethnic Estonians comprise 69% of population

      • more are Protestant (Lutheran)

      • speak a Uralic language related to Finnish

  • Latvians

    • ethnic Latvians are 59% of population

      • most are Protestant (Lutheran)

      • Roman Catholic minority

      • speak a language of the Baltic group

European States

  • Belarusians comprise 81% of the population of Belarus

  • Moldovans comprise 78% of the population of Moldova

  • Ukrainians comprise 78% of the population in Ukraine

  • distinction between the 3 are blurred

    • speak similar East Slavic languages

    • predominantly Orthodox Christians

  • Belarus and Ukraine

    • became distinct because they were isolated from Russians

      • because of Mongolian invasions and conquests by Poles and Lithuanians

  • Moldova

    • indistinguishable from Romanians

      • Moldova had been a part of Romania

    • wanted to reunify with Romania after the Soviet Union collapsed

    • the Ukrainians and Russians in Trans-Dniestria oppose the reunification

Central Asian States

  • Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

    • 85% Turkmen in Turkmenistan

      • split between Turkmenistan and Russia

    • 80% Uzbek in Uzbekistan

      • split between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan

    • both are Muslims who speak an Altaic language

  • Kyrgyzstan

    • 69% Kyrgyz

      • Muslims

      • speak an Altaic language

      • resent Russians for taking their best farmland

    • 15% Uzbek

    • 9% Russian

  • Kazakhstan

    • Kazakhs are 67%

      • Muslims

      • speak an Altaic language similar to Turkish

    • Russians are 18%

      • Orthodox Christians

      • speak and Indo-European language

    • tensions exist but it’s been peaceful because it has a decent economy

  • Tajikistan

    • 80% Tajik

      • Muslims

      • speak a language in the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages

    • 15% Uzeb

    • 1% Russian

    • civil war between Tajiks (former Communists) and Muslim fundamentalists and Western-oriented intellecturals

    • 15% of population is homeless because of the war

The Largest Multinational State: Russia

  • multinational states face challenges

    • maintaining unity

    • avoiding fragmentation

  • Russia recognizes 39 ethnic groups as nationalities

    • many want independence

  • 20% of population is non-Russian

  • clusters

    • near Mongolia

      • Buryats and Tuvinian

    • near Azerbaijan and Georgia

      • Chechens, Dagestani, Kabardins, and Ossetians

    • between the Volga River basin and Ural Mountains

      • Bashkirs, Chuvash, Tatars, etc.

        • speak Altaic languages similar to Turkish

      • Mordvins and Udmurts

        • speak Uralic languages similar to Finnish

    • most groups were conquered by Ivan the Terrible

  • Russia is less willing to suppress independence movements than the Soviet Union

  • Chechens

    • Sunni Muslims

    • speak a Caucasian language

  • Chechnya was part of the Soviet Union

  • after the collapse it refused to join Russia and called itself independent

  • Russia ignored its independence and sent its army to gain control

  • Russia fought hard to keep Chechnya to prevent other ethnicities also trying to get independence

  • Checnya had a lot of petroleum too

Turmoil in the Caucasus

  • Caucasus region is between the Black and Caspian seas

  • major ethnicities

    • Azeris

    • Armenians

    • Georgians

  • other important ethnicities

    • Abkhazians

    • Chechens

    • Ingush

    • Ossetians

    • Kurds

    • Russians

  • was part of the Soviet Union, which dispelled disputes between ethnicities by force if necessary

  • once the Soviet Union broke up, ethnicities have begun to fight

  • no ethnicity has fully achieved getting their own independent state

Azerbaijan

  • Azeris trace roots to Turkish invaders from Central Asia who merged with the Persian population

  • 1828 treaty gave northern Azeri to Russia and southern to Persia

  • 1923, the Russian portion became the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union

  • after the Soviet Union, it became an independent country

  • the western part (Nakhichevan) is part of Armenia

  • 7 million Azeris live in Azerbaijan (91% of its population)

  • 16 million Azeris live in Iran (24% of its population)

    • hold positions of responsibility in government and economy

    • however, Iran restricts teaching of the Azeri language

Armenia

  • more than 3,000 years ago, they controlled an independent kingdom

  • then were converted to Christianity and lived as an isolated Chrisitian enclave under the Turkish Muslims

  • Armenians were killed in massacres by the Turks, forcing some to migrate to Russia

  • Russia got eastern Armenia in 1828

  • the Allies created an independent state of Armenia after WWI, but it was swallowed by its neighbors

  • Turkey and the Soviet Union divided Armenia between each other in 1921

  • the Soviet portion became an independent country in 1991

  • Armenians comprise 98% of the population

    • the most homogeneous country in the region

  • Armenians and Azeris went to war over boundaries over Nagorno-Karabakh

    • it became a part of Azerbaijan, but acts as an independent republic called Artsakh

Georgia

  • population

    • Georgians - 71%

    • Armenian - 8%

    • Azeri and Russian each - 6%

    • Ossetian - 3%

    • Abkhazian, Greek, and other ethnicities, each - 2%

  • unrest between the Ossetians and Abkhazians

  • Abkhazians fought for the northwestern portion and declared Abkhazia to be an independent state

  • Ossetians fought a war with Georgians and declared the South Ossetia to be independent

  • Russia and only a few other countries have recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be independent

Colonies

colony: a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent

Colonialism

colonialism: an effort by one country to establish settlements in a terriroty and to impose its political, econmic, and cultural principles on that territory

  • European states have established colonies to

    • promote Christianity (God)

    • extract useful resources and serve as captive markets for their products (gold)

    • establish relative power through the number of their colonies (glory)

  • colonial era began in the 1400s when explorers sailed west for Asia but found the Western Hemisphere instead

  • European states lost most of their colonies because of them gaining independence

  • United Kingdom

    • planted colonies on every continent including

      • eastern and southern Africa

      • South Asia

      • Middle East

      • Australia

      • Canada

    • had the largest colonial empire (“sun never set”)

  • France

    • second largest colonial empire

    • colonies in

      • West Africa

      • Southeast Asia

    • attempted to assimilate its colonies into French culture

    • after independence, most leaders still kept close ties with France

  • most African and Asian colonies became independent after WWII

  • only 15 of African and Asian states were members of the UN in 1945

  • 106 of African and Asian states are in the UN in 2012

The Remaining Colonies

  • US Department of State lists 68 places in the world that are colonies

    • 43 with indigenous populations

    • 25 with no permanent population

    • most are islands in Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea

  • most populous is Peurto Rico

    • US’s

    • 4 million residents

    • an island of 8,870 square km (3,500 square miles)

    • are citizens of the US, but do not participate in US elections or have a voting member of Congress

  • least-populated is Pitcairn Island

    • UK’s

    • 47 square km (18 square miles)

    • in the South Pacific

    • settled by British mutineers from the ship Bounty

    • 48 islanders

  • US State Department does not include some inhabited islands considered by others to be colonies, but includes several entities to be colonies that others do not (Greenland, Hong Kong, and Macao)

robot