Politicized ethnicity as an institutional obstacle to the strengthening of the All-Russian identity in the North Caucasus

Abstract

The article analyzes the phenomenon of politicized ethnicity in the North Caucasus, its influence on ethno-political processes and ways to reduce the risk-generating impact of this phenomenon on the ethno-political sphere of the region are proposed. The article summarizes the results of a series of studies conducted in the North Caucasus in 2018–2023: event analysis of the ethno-political situation, analysis of positive practices, mass and expert surveys, content analysis of the media, websites of national-cultural associations, blogosphere, content analysis of normative documents, content and discourse analysis of publications of North Caucasian historians. It is shown that the main factors in the politicization of ethnicity in the North Caucasus region are “hyperethnicity” and the institutionalization of ethnicity in the form of “national republics”, as well as the ethno-territorial problems and claims caused by these phenomena, and the “memory paradigm” that has developed in the region. It is concluded that it is necessary to strengthen the all-Russian vector of the regional identity policy, and for this purpose a “revision” of the legislative framework in the federal subjects in the North Caucasus is required. Since at the present stage it is impossible and impractical to abandon the institution of republics, it is important to gradually introduce into the public opinion the principle of territoriality, and not titular ethnicity, as the basis of the republics in Russian Federation. It is relevant to change the humanitarian agenda of the North Caucasus, which can go in two directions: the reorientation of public consciousness to the problems of modernization of the region and the integration of the humanitarian space of the “Big South” — the North Caucasus and Southern federal districts. The reformatting of the “memory paradigm” can be achieved by expanding the historical panorama through positively oriented constructions of the historical past, as well as changing the scientific priorities of humanitarian research with an emphasis on topics related to the centuries-old experience of living together of peoples of different cultures. The materials of the article can be used in the preparation of a new Strategy of the state national policy of the Russian Federation.