The mechanics of consensus: non-territorial national cultural autonomy and the Russian state

Prina, F. (2020) The mechanics of consensus: non-territorial national cultural autonomy and the Russian state. Nationalities Papers, 48(2), pp. 307-322. (doi: 10.1017/nps.2018.39)

Abstract

Russia’s institutions on nonterritorial cultural autonomy (NTCA) can be broadly situated within the country’s political community, in the sense that they—for the most part—recognize the government’s rules of engagement and its role as decision maker, leading to overarching consensus and pursuit of shared objectives. At the same time, they remain at the periphery of the political community. This article outlines the reasons for NTCA institutions’ peripherality and limited influence upon Russia’s minority policies. Such reasons are linked to external factors—Russia’s undemocratic political system—but also to conditions intrinsic to NTCA institutions themselves—forms of passivity and (non)participation, and blurred boundaries between NTCA institutions and state actors. The interaction of such factors generates the noted prevailing consensus between NTCA institutions and the Russian state. Interview data further reveal that representatives of NTCA institutions are far from monolithic: the said external and internal factors affect them in different ways, resulting in variations in forms of consensus and cooperation with state actors. This, in turn, allows for multiple interpretative frameworks of state–civil society coexistence in the sphere of Russia’s diversity management.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Prina, Dr Federica
• Authors: Prina, F.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Central and East European Studies
• Journal Name: Nationalities Papers
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0090-5992
• ISSN (Online): 1465-3923
• Published Online: 07 January 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © Association for the Study of Nationalities
• First Published: First published in Nationalities Papers 48(2):307-322
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy