This dissertation deals with the evolution of national identification and the rise of nationalism in the Soviet Union. The result was the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the establishment of 15 new successor states in 1991.
This dissertation begins with some reflections on the theories of nationalism and Sovietology, and an account of the national components of the Russian Empire before October Revolution in 1917. The collapse of the Russian Empire and its eventual restoration under Bolshevik¡¦s rule in the form of the Soviet Union are examined. Having recaptured most of the territory of the Empire they inherited, the Communist rulers were forced to face the complicated task of ethnic issues. I examine the interactionary between Marxist¡¦s theories on the management of ethnic and national problems and the reality the rulers had to face.
It was the decentralizing economic reform of 1957, which adopted the territorial principle and led to pro-nationalist localism. In the absence of market, this affected the system¡¦s cohesion and the maintenance of central power. In Brezhnev¡¦s era, a compromise was made with indigenous elites. They were able to consolidate their control and put down roots in the process of modernization. Thus, corruption, the ¡¥shadow economy¡¦, and ¡¥national interests¡¦ arose as indigenous elites modifying the impact of the recentralized system. Gorbachev¡¦s reforms included three things: Marketization led to the collapse of the command economy; glasnost eliminated the privileged position of Marxism-Leninism within a few years and the rewriting of Soviet history destroyed the legitimacy of Stalin and the institution he built; democratization undermined all forms of authority, especially that of the political center. Gorbachev¡¦s reforms caused grievance and resentments break out. Many decades of communist rule had destroyed civil society in the multinational state implied that the cooperation was most likely to be achieved by means of nation solidarity. Nationalist identity then became the principal vehicle of political mobilization.
In conclusion, this author proposes a developmental model of nationalism in Soviet years. The role of nationalism was a precondition for the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which changed the direction of political agenda. The rise of Soviet nationalism could be characterized as a top-down case. They were constantly being shaped and constructed by the state-initiated transformation. This dissertation has demonstrated that nation identifications were deeply embedded in those nations¡¦ understanding of their past, and their growth by and large were the results of Moscow¡¦s policies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0703102-191628 |
| Date | 03 July 2002 |
| Creators | Yu, Hui-Ching |
| Contributors | Wen-Chun Chen, none, none, none, none, Samuel C. Y. Ku |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0703102-191628 |
| Rights | withheld, Copyright information available at source archive |
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