CEU eTD Collection [Type text] In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of ASYMMETRICAL FEDERALISM. ASYMMETRICAL Advisor: Professor Anton Pelinka THE CASE OFTATARSTAN THE CASE Nationalism StudiesProgram Central European University Central European Budapest, Hungary Budapest, Nailya Agdeeva Master of Arts Submitted to Submitted 2012 By CEU eTD Collection them. associated with it have special rights and status only because the central government allows andlack government This of ethno-federal indicates conflict. the minority the that and unit most units donot,thereason should that be is highlighted theloyalty unitthe of federalto the legalopportunities, and framework, indicate that others, Tatarstan that enjoys privileges that documents of the RF were analyzed. Among various motives, such as historical ties, economic for that. reasons the what are if and so, republics, out if the status of Tatarstan is different from the positions of the other units, especially other model of the relation between the federal government and the ethnic unit. This study aims findto other units, the case of Republic of Tatarstan within the RF can be considered as a positive based units, raises the question of the rights and responsibilities each type of unit gets. Among with ethno-federal structure. The asymmetry of this structure, with ethnically and regionally Abstract The composition of the Russian Federation sets an example of the multi-national state multi-national the of example an sets Federation Russian the of composition The In order to doso, literature on the topics related to the study, as well as official i CEU eTD Collection encouragementand for giving meincentives enabledthat me finishto this work. gratitude myto family and all my friends, especially for Guseinova,Esmira their strong support, assistance and guidelines during my research. As a final point, I would like to show my patience and while support Iwasworking on this paper. his assistance during the difficult process of choosing the topic, critical suggestions, comments, thesis. This thesis would not have been possible without my supervisor Professor Anton Pelinka, Acknowledgements I would alsolike to thank all Nationalism Studies Department faculty members for their I owe my deepest gratitude to all those who helped me through the process of writing this ii CEU eTD Collection Table of Content Chapter 5: Tatarstan Benefits inPractice Chapter 3: Russian–Tatar Relations over Time Chapter 4: Struggle for inEarlyCurrent Status 1990s Chapter 2: Theoretical Background –from Minority toFederal Rights Unit Republics Chapter 1: Federal Structure of the Russian Federation with the Special Focus on the Ethno-federal Structure and Self-determination ...... 1 of Nations Introduction 5.1 Situationwith theLegalDocumentation 4.2 The Confusion ofthe Aims and Demands: Full Independence or a SpecialStatus 4.1 TheRiseof Separatism 3.3 Self-determination of3.3 Self-determination Tatarsduring the Soviet times 3.2 Tatars within theRussianEmpire 3.1 Bulgars and Mongols 2.4 Federalism 2.3 Autonomy–Settling the Conflict orStep Towards Secession? 2.2 RightforSelf-determination 2.1 Protection ofMinorities andtheir Rights 1.2 Structure and itsShortcomings 1.1 TheStatusof theRepublic–Self-determination or Sovereignty? ...... 9 ...... 1 ...... 28 ...... 34 ...... 44 ...... 25 ...... 14 ...... 36 ...... 52 iii ...... 52 ...... 23 ...... 34 ...... 42 ...... 38 ...... 26 ...... 9 ...... 20 ...... 47 CEU eTD Collection Bibliography General Information about the Republic of Tatarstan...... 64 Appendix Loyalty of a Unit as a Way to Get Benefits...... 59 Conclusion 5.3 Availability of ResourcesAvailability Economic 5.3 5.2 International Relations ...... 64 ...... 59 ...... 68 ...... 54 ...... 56 iv CEU eTD Collection constitutes the second largest ethnicity in the Russia but it is in butit onlyalittle above3%ofthe second total largestethnicity the theRussia constitutes Tatarstan of idea. ethnicity Titular separatist articulate to - started Tatarstan and Chechnya republics – especially when 2 autonomous 1980s 1990s, raised inlate – early again once takenawayfrom identification ethnic Thequestion RF was the was minorities of passports. collapse of the Soviet Union the question of ethnic belonging did notfade away,even though the the With identity. citizen Soviet every of part integral an was (nazional’nost’), ethnicity person’s indicated passport that line the Soviet in calledthe “fifth column”, so The in theUSSR. policy wasthepart belonging of the oneparticulargroup times.during Thechoiceof ethic to Soviet the population of the state, the rest can be considered asminorities. the subject orhave historical ties with the territory. Russians constitute approximately 4/5 of the peculiarity of the republics as units is that they all named after the peoples that are majorities in nationalities and ethnicities, the issue of minorities is one of the central in RF. The main Another difficulty is the ethno-federal nature of the state. Being a home of more than 100 relations to the central government and each other. This, however, is notalways the case. autonomous area, and 4 autonomous districts. Constitutionally they suppose to be equal in (oblast), 2 are the cities of federal significance (Moscow and Saint Petersburg), Jewish federal subjects, 21of which have the status of republics, 9areregions (krai),46 areareas Talking about minorities in the RF, it is impossible to ignore the history of the minorities The federal structure of the Russian Federation causes a lot of question. It consist of of 83 consist alot of It question. causes of Russian Federation the federal structure The Ethno-federal Structure and Self-determination of Nations of Self-determination and Structure Ethno-federal Introduction 1 CEU eTD Collection University of Ethnology Anthropology,and RAN,1997), 84-85. 1 of develop social asparts closely linkedscience, ethnicity theclass,was by to time which that to of started culture andanthropology peoplesthe andnations. In1960s,when ethnography costumes, and traditions, toresearch,develop document and werethe whostarted ones, Soviets Nevertheless,in many republics, Autonomous Soviet which were basedonthe titular ethnicities, side of duringBolsheviks, Stalin rule ethnicity havecould become amatter lifeof and death. the on various people of attraction of the key of wasone the aspects nations of the determination Lenin’s the self- repressionsafter Stalinist therevolution,during and hisdeath.If claims about The importance and role of these terms during the Soviet times also changed over time. purposes. in formasses various andused mostly by they are politicized factthat explainedthe is definition of and clear the and“nations” absence “ethnicity” around terms the him debates the for Nevertheless, people. the of commonalities thesocial cultural and is builtbutaround nothing manipulation. sometimes and mobilization for tool as a but rather political elite creates the notion of common nation among the people in order to use it Union territories, points out that it post- and isUSSR in wrong to assumenationality and that ethnicity of nations area in the compose experts leading and the of constituteone as Tishkov, states V. system. the collapse of the theymadeafter and times difference Soviet the during “nation” the Constitution of the RF. by guaranteed are which state the of symbols and Government of branches three Constitution, enjoy population. Tatars federal Nevertheless, republic,theirunit, President, own their with own 2 (Moscow: University of Ethnology Anthropology,and RAN, 1997), 69-70. Valerii Tishkov, “On the Phenomenon of the Ethnicity,” in Valerii Tishkov, “OnNation and Nationalism,” in The studies of ethnicitythe apartas of social science startedonly in notsurprisingly 1960s, and “ethnicity” terms the of understanding and role the stress to important very also is It Essays on Theory ofPolitics of Ethnicity in Russia 2 Essays on Theory of Politics of Ethnicity inRussia of Ethnicity onTheory ofPolitics Essays 1 Of course, ethnicity isnotcreated out of (Moscow: 2 CEU eTD Collection House of the University of Sociology RAN, Center of common to all mankind values, 2003), 28. 2003), values, mankind all to of common Center RAN, Sociology of University the of House 5 4 Sociology RAN, 2003), 34. 1647-1651. 6 3 aggression and hadvery negative inclinations. common cultural and politicalhad nothing umbrella. to do with Inwas almost forgotten. The word nationalismcreation in itself USSR,unlikethe insome European states, contrast, of itthe wasstate. nation in the role political usedimportant more much played andas a statesynonym or unificationof separatism, of the people under the equality of equality was made peoplehadtobeincluded the of in Constitution.various It through the formation and later functioningactRF had through to ethno-nationalthe politics includeand multi-ethnicity a baseas key for the of the state.the asaresult so, do to enough not were rights human Basic party. every satisfy and peoples the In order to make sure that the state is stable, the determination began to matter again.matter began to determination including union,of the in all in ideas parts resulted of separatism the the of union. It the in all parts the RF. Various units started to declare their sovereignty and the right for self- units that were not ethnic were not republics. units that all units and the exclusion of the unitswhereas other were of kind againstany of distinction among units. the Theequal treatment right to succeed for all was therepublics duringUnion the Soviet foughtfor the with special status several key privileges main demand of the regional balance multi-ethnicity federal and of structure state. the The thatusedtobeunits autonomous various reasonsandhadto an process due to not ineasy 1990swas early constitution RF the of Draftingwithnew federal the butalso of ethnic only complicated structure. the with picture Leokadia Drobizheva, Leokadia Ibid., 37-38. Anuradha M. Chenoy, “Regional Politics in Russia,” Drobizheva, Leokadia With the collapse of the system, nationalism became the only available source of ideology of source available only the became nationalism system, of the With collapse the Social Problems of the Inter-National Relation in post-Soviet Russia Sociology of Inter-Ethnic Tolerance 6 5 New constitution had to balance these diversities, unity of unity balance diversities, these hadto Newconstitution The RF was the only post-Soviet state that had to deal not deal to had that state post-Soviet only the was RF The Economic and Political Weekly 4 3 (Moscow: Publishing House of the University of University the of House Publishing (Moscow: 3 The concept of self-determination the of Theconcept , Vol.29, No. 27(1994): (Moscow: Publishing CEU eTD Collection and be ready to ascribe them to these rights. Charles Taylor in “The Politics of in of Recognition” “The Charles Taylor Politics rights. ascribe them these beto and ready to importantly, the political decision-making bodies, should also recognize the group as a minority minority in order to express the claim for certain rights and freedoms, the others, more granting self-determination rights. solve this problem is togive theminorities right todecide onsome issues on their own which is the rule should be democratic but not simply turned into tyranny majority.of One of the ways to on basic things, such as how to rule and whois the subject of the rule. It is widely accepted that federal structures are not very common. In order to exist, the heterogeneous society has to agree documentation. political, cultural, economic, and geographic preconditions of the unit, as well as legal Tatarstan within the Russian Federation?” To answer it Iwill have to analyze the specific as aminority entitled to unit.this Sothequestion is “Whatis behindthe special status of tendency even further. Iwould like to research it on the example of Tatarstan as a unit and Tatars unit that they are entitled to. The asymmetrical federal structure of the state strengthens this individual are actors political mainthe of status determinants the minorityof the and federal the formulation of laws, historical ties and importance of the peoples, economic opportunities and seems confusing the It that more equal others. are than rather some units or than others units. The equality of the minorities exists only on paper and some of them enjoy more rights units, and rightfor the national development. suchaslinguistic nature of laws,ethnic state, the multi-national clearly articlesaddressed that Nevertheless, it is obvious that there is no equality neither between minorities nor federal nor minorities between neither equality no is there that is obvious it Nevertheless, Before right forthat self-determination itself should be at. looked Itis notenough to be a whereasethno- nowadays, arerather the rule than exception the in state Minorities the 4 CEU eTD Collection http://www.zef.de/download/ethnic_conflict/hannum.pdf. 10 (April, 2003):7. 9 8 (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1995), 43. 7 to ethnic what groups moral autonomy is toindividuals.” is “Self-determination governance. of form own their choose to right the with hand in hand goes often misused nowadays. For Donald L. Horowitz, the right of self-determination of the peoples is itself The “self-determination” in majority state. minorities term the the the and constitutes that group ethnic the of treatment different the of necessity the highlights it as research, particularity.” recognize andevenfoster we have“For to the other, in state. the relations majority-minority the contradicts already people equalandsamegrant andnot any to special requireswe respect that treat peoplefashion.”in a difference-blind highlights this problem. There are twosides of the argument.“For one, the principle of equal step towardsfull independence of territory.the Because of the vagueness of the term, the leaders of the minority might see it only as the first him is tounderstand thatthe granting does of notautonomy put afinal instop conflict.the autonomy of the certain region as a way to settle ethnic conflicts. The most important thing for Hannum discusses both outcomes, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the new Hurst problems. which creates secession basefor the serves when appears autonomy the self-rule itself, then granting autonomy can stop or help avoid the conflict. Another case address because of the outcomes itmay cause and the motives of the minority. If the end point is Donald L. Horowitz, “The Cracked Foundations of the Right to Secede,” Ibid., 43. Charles Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition,” in Hurst Hannum, “Territorial Autonomy: Permanent Solution orStep toward Secession?” Self-governance of the minority within the state, or autonomy,is not a simple topic to 8 The issecond approach more for applicable my Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition 10 5 Nevertheless, autonomy can settle two main rights because no one is “special”. This 9 Journal of Democracy, 7 This means considerto Vol. 14, No. 2 CEU eTD Collection Press, Inc., 2002), 47. 13 (New York, NY:Routlegde, 2006), 221. 12 The Multiethnic Challenge 11 worse off. are others whereas asymmetry asymmetry represents unequal treatment of the units when some unitis better off from the as outcomes. Asymmetry is also discussed by Kahn butin rather negative prospective. For him, not it.” it create does difference; reflects asymmetry of the federalism should not be taken as something negative. “In practice, asymmetry and danger of ‘tyranny by minority’. ethnic tensions, be asaway considered towards can asymmetry democratic principles, around arebuilt –notseveral all always thecasedueto isnot this obstacles federations Nevertheless, legitimized on the basis of providing for and celebrating both unity and difference.” “[federation]is above all an organizing principle,institutions containing and and structures ideal In case, situation. ethnic with complex onthefederations focuses specifically Challenge” TheMultiethnic in“Federalism: GrahamSmith above,theRFis state. ethno-federal itwas stated and efficiently. As with autonomy, the danger of secession should not be forgotten, however. As correspondmore needs tothe effectively former of makethelatter the which closer and officials state, federalism seems the only possible option. Furthermore, federalism seems bringto people RF,the being biggestthe in country worldthe andhaving around 120ethnicities sharing the preserves the territorial integrity of the state. This may lead to the federal structure of the state. claims of the parties that are in conflict –itmakes sure that minorities are not disadvantaged and Jeffrey Kahn, Michael Burgess, “Asymmetrical federalism and federation,” in federation,” and federalism “Asymmetrical Burgess, Michael Graham Smith, “Mapping the Federal Condition: Ideology, Political Practice and Social Justice,” in Justice,” Social and Practice Political Ideology, Condition: Federal the “Mapping Smith, Graham When it comes to asymmetric federalism, Michael Burgess explicitly highlights that highlights explicitly Burgess Michael federalism, asymmetric to comes it When is Federalism mostly forsuitable ethnicallylarge For territorially or/and states. diverse Federalism, Democratization, and theRule of Law in Russia , ed. Graham Smith (New York, NY: Longman Publishing, 1995), 7. 12 13 There are several preconditions for asymmetry as well for asymmetry Thereare several preconditions Nevertheless, the federal system in the FR is 6 Comparative Federalism. Theory and practice (New York, NY: Oxford University 11 Federalism: CEU eTD Collection Vol.37, No. 2(Ph.D. Program inPolitical Science of Citythe University of New 2005),York, 127-146. 14 doing so itis important to look at the theoretical picture on the minorities, their rights, self- within the context of the general history of the federation is also very important to note. Before units and its position in federation.the Thehistorical development of unitthe and its people inwill be make analyzed order to my critical and answer evaluation questions. bilateral agreements between the RF and Tatarstan, as well as other official documentation. It Russian and English language literature, as well as both Constitutions (the RF and Tatarstan), shortcomings though. This will be a qualitative research that mostly will rely on available autonomy unit the andto giving rights self-determination to minority, the with several of granting asasuccessful example be casecan considered this particular only to applicable was granted officially,including autonomous republic, as well as some other aspects that are minoritiesself-determination the of in a biggerstate. of the unitis not only the way to control a certain territory but also avery symbolic gesture of stresses,it is should not be forgotten, however, that for ethnic federal units, republics, autonomy Barry Asalso Donna centralization. towards recenttrends account into especially taking state, RF is democratic the fully assume that bewrong to itwill anissuebecause raises also democracy to federalism accordance referauthors with mostfact to that case.The aninteresting represents andgroups, regions with Russian majority. what we can call “ethnic units”, which are design to be the homeland for particular ethnic contains federation The negative. purely something as be seen not should this and asymmetric Donna Bahry, “The New Federalism and the Paradoxes of Regional Sovereignty in Russia,” in Sovereignty Regional of Paradoxes the and NewFederalism “The Bahry, Donna The federal structure of the RF should be elaborated on before we can talk about specific it rights self-determination the and Tatarstan that show to like would I my research In with offocusand on asymmetry state, ethno-federalism, the the structure The federal 7 14 Comparative Politics , CEU eTD Collection and federal states will be used in order to elaborate further. will situation beusedintoelaborate the on federal andorder states hypothesis state above. Some minor comparative examples, within the RF and in other unitary and withdrawal of some rights from the units should also not be ignored in order to prove the federation more centralized towards current The trends be considered. also should rise of Islam elements as economic opportunities,first presidents of the RF and Tatarstan, their role and the serves as a base in this particular case and should not to be underestimated. Furthermore such determination and self-rule. The path towards status currentthe of unitthe during early 1990s 8 CEU eTD Collection dividedseveral into The units. Constitution of 1918 of Russianthe Social Federal Soviet place in the beginning of the XX century. Before that Russian Empire was a unitary state, though Publius 16 http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/constitution/1918/article1.htm. Congress of Soviets, July 18, 1918, Article 1, Chapter 1,accessed 14, April 2012. 15 and 10autonomous districts. republics and 6 autonomous regions, which later in 1978was changed16 to republics, 5regions republic having highest the level autonomy.of constitution Next of 1937 defined 17autonomous national republics.” Republic isSoviet organized onthe basis a freeof union freeof nations, asafederation of soviet Republic declared (RSFSR) the federal of principle organization of state –“Thethe Russian various structures with, nevertheless, equal relations with the federal government. Thereare, federal the government. with relations equal nevertheless, with, structures various 1.1 The Status of theRepublic – Self-determination orSovereignty? bodies. governmental the hierarchy withof vertical strict state centralized however, that the USSR constitution has more symbolic than practical meaning. It still was very states to leave the USSR voluntarily, which is not the case of the present RF. It should be noted, Nicholas J. Lynn and Alexei V. Novikov, “Refederalizing Russia: Debates on the Idea of Federalism in Russia,” The Constitution of the RussianSoviet Federated Socialist Republic of 1918, adopted by the Fifth All-Russian Chapter 1: Federal Structure of the Russian Federation with the with Federation Russian ofthe Structure 1: Federal Chapter , Vol. 27, No. 2(1997): 190. Federal structure of RFisthe Federal structure the consequence of thattook the historical circumstances Current constitution of the RF states that it is a federal state with 89 federal units of 15 Itwas already asymmetrical with various types of units, with autonomous Special Focus on theRepublics on Focus Special 16 In the Constitution of 1978 was also state the right of all 16 Soviet 9 CEU eTD Collection unit, together with Russian. Territorial principle of the organization of the republics which was language – only republics can declare any other language as an official on the territory of the President, Parliament, government and judicial body. Another important aspect is the official other types of units can have only the set of regulations. Also only republics can have the 17 attributes of the sovereign state on its territory. constitution of the RF states, Republic is a state within the Federation and it possesses all and structure of the autonomous republics and their relations with the federation. As the and Tatarstan. still only the part of the bigger Russian state. Among these states are Saha, Komi, Bashkorkostan are they that fact the ignoring one, federal the above territory the on law their of status highest principle is often ignored, especially in the republics. Some of them deliberately declare the in units this the RF. of the Nevertheless, on whole lawsrule as territory the only federal power, tosolveit. attempts are various and regional laws come to power. This is one of the biggest problems in the current RF and there confusing. Sometimes itis very hard tounderstand where federal andrights responsibilities stop part of the USSR toward independentdemocratic state. The textand the structure of itwere very to declare independence of transitional during theirandsovereignty the Russia from period the 1990s, which is know in Russia as a “parade of sovereignties”, meaning that many units started biggestthe in of problem federal RF. duringthe the structure was drafted Constitution The early directed towards more vertical and strict structure of the federation. This is the shortcoming of however, several problems that are important to mention. First of all, current political trends are The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 5. To understand why ishappeningthis is it important look to at the rights, responsibilities Legally, any regional law that does not come to compliance with the federal one has no 17 10 It has a right toadopt Constitution, whereas CEU eTD Collection http://www.icl-fi.org/print/english/wv/919/qotw.html. who strive for such rights are often deprived of some basic human rights and freedoms, one of peoples granted to those whoare discriminated againstmistreated by or majority. the Peoples is often right this that fact is the nations the of self-determination about thing important most for some of the units to express separatist ideas in early 1990s, Tatarstan being one of them. The determination of the nation, or at leastis claimed to be so. Nevertheless, this was the main reason had asinnever asmany RF. privileges the at all. Talking about Tatarstan specifically,it should be noted that during the Soviet times,it coexist under the common umbrella of the federation. Historically, however, this is not the case with the permission of the units, or rather the unifying force of the various units that agree to composed RFis the assumingthat state the falsely in Constitution, “sovereign” the their term units, Tatarstan being the most active among them,express. In early 1990s Tatarstan included units, the republics, because of the policy of the USSR. This contradicts the claims that some 18 Russia. key which arguments Bolsheviksin used togetthemultinational support order of of population 1920s, in the period where the importance of national or ethnic self-determination was one of the in early established and were their borders werecreated Republics status. declare sovereign their to do with independence or sovereignty in practice, no matter how much some republics try to changed in unilateral manner. This is, however, true for any unit. changed without permission federalof the The government. status of republicthe alsocannot be be to allowed is not RFand modern the in preserved is still times Soviet in the drawn often Leon Trotsky, “Between Red and White,” Red and “Between Trotsky, Leon 18 The whole federal structure of the RF is build around the concept of the right for self- Unlike any other units republics possess the title of the state, this, however, has nothing So it can be concluded that various ethnic groups of the RF enjoy their own federal Workers Vanguard 11 , No. 919 (1922), accessed April 14, 2012. CEU eTD Collection supremacy supremacy federal the of laws economic space, which does not allow any customs services or tax barriers between the units, integrity.” of RFis state onits the established in 1990s this was one of the most important points. Constitution states that “the federal structure manage is federal resources divided between local soand it isgovernment for unconstitutional interference. This is illegitimate due to two main reasons. First, constitutionally the right to and the claims that the peoples of the unit has a right tomanage them without federal sometimes cause some problems. The most widely spread is the question of the natural resources agreement, the integrity of the RF is not under any threat. The territories of the unit, however, ideas, and claims of Tatarstan on theirindependence, which was quickly settle with bilateral of the units express this kind of will.After the war in Chechnya, which started with separatist of any unitvoluntarily leave thefederation. This doesnotcause any problems assince 1994none way.unilateral state. of the borders the integrity of the violate or under the treat put cannot nation put on the decree of the UN on minorities, stating that the right of self-determination of any 23 22 21 accessed April14, 2012. http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/47/a47r135.htm. 20 19 highlighted none that of peoplesthe have in special status federation. the self-determination, the composers of the Constitution included this right but specifically of the community. This was, however, never the case in the RF. Sowhen stating the right for the most important is the right for taking political decisions that affect the lives of the members The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 4. The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 8. The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 5 (3). Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National orEthnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 5 (4). When it comes to territorial integrity of the RF and its units, the key thing here is inability 23 and absence of the right of the units toleave the federation in the 21 It is expressed in the territorial unity, common unity, territorial the in expressed is It 12 19 The biggest stress was stress Thebiggest 20 For the RF the For 22 CEU eTD Collection 24 bodies of self-governance, state institutions of the republics they are used along with official local bodies, governmental In official. as languages their establish to right a have “Republics autonomous units are alsoestablished with principle of self-determination nationsof in mind. languages of the titular nations can be official only in republics, even though some other leads federal thislaws to conclusion. other and but analysis of Constitution stated the clearly Nevertheless,little indicates that they are equal among each other. The opposite, of course, is not bodies. federal units areequal the with in relations that their ishighlighted mark. It deliberately equality principle is clearly violated. The principle itself, however, is also under big question its relations with the federation and federal bodies. If one or several units are “sovereign” the with equal the status of all declaredunits in Constitution.the According it, to any isunit equalin that units do not possess any sovereignty,it belongs to the RF as a whole. This is also has to do solved only as as late in 2000 with issuedthe by Constitutional Court of RFthe decree, stating very important, as Tatarstan possesses huge amount of gas and oil on its territory. units in some cases has little to do with the historical borders of this or that people. This issue is border of the current the So reasons. bureaucratic and only account administrative into taking republics with RF the were drawn by Soviets,ignoringthe often the historical inhabitants but be in charge of them. This brings us to one of the points above – the territories of the current territory that historically was theirs and it happen to have resources, so these peoples are free to isof management resources the The self-determination built inhabit peoples right. the the around the units to claim the ultimate right. The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 72 (4). Only republics can have their own constitution and three branches of the government, the of branches three and constitution own their have can republics Only The question about resources is often followed by the issue of sovereignty, which was 24 The second reason is more complex. The claim on the 13 CEU eTD Collection 27 26 25 the both chapter. This brings us the question above –what level is in charge of these issues? The the fact that several points, such as protection of rights and freedoms of the people, are stated in is issue big Another it? of fulfillment and implementation the for isresponsible who government, causes lot of a questions. (Russian). Russian Federation” the language of protection protection of indigenousthe peoples and theirnatural habitat, etc. minorities, question of territory and resources, as well as issues of culture, education and science, legal systems come to compliance, regulation of the rights and freedoms of all people, including solved by federation Amongthe and together. local units them that are guaranteeing andfederal interesting in ismore supposed thebe chapter Constitution regulatesthe thequestionsthat that to etc. legaleconomic issues,security, and important minorities, several to the attention changes in the Constitution, regulation of the rights and freedoms of the people, with special federal level. Among them are federal structure and the territory of the RF, ratification of any federal three branches of the government and also several vital issues that are solved only at the itunitary federal is state or Thereare basedon unitary the system power. governmental of 1.2 Structure and itsShortcomings citizens. Russian areautomatically of republics citizens the However, distinguish theircitizenship documents (passport)from documentsthe issued in units.other The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 72. The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 71. The Constitution of the RussianFederation, Article 68 (2). First of all, when the question is under the jurisdiction of both, local and federal Coming back to the general structure of the RF,it isimportant to note that as any other 25 14 More importantly republics have a right to 27 This chapter particular 26 What is CEU eTD Collection http://www.yamal.ru/new/obinf03.htm. 29 http://nnovobzor.ru/article.php?id=4221. 28 federal one. more than 40 point of the local legal documentation that did notcome to compliance with the case,asby actually islaw ademonstrative where. were Tatarstan what 2000 there islegitimate which is isunderstand case,anditoften each the can hardto other, documents contradict two regulations sometimes is only a principle on the paper and has nothing to do with the reality. So and islocal legal documents fact of federal that compliance the thirdthe the problem and clear that the status of republics brings more freedom to the unit in terms of governance of the as official. Unlike republics, they do not have their state symbols,like hymn and flag. So it is None of the units, however, can have their own state government, constitution or local language right of the people to govern and choose their way of the national and cultural development. total population of unit.the constitute only 16.5%, whereas in Hanty-Mansisk region Hanty make up as low as 1.4% of the majority of the territory of the unit. For example, in Nenect Autonomous region Nenect people principle of the self-determination of nations, and these nationals do not always constitute the does not threaten the integrity of the RF. Some autonomous regions are also built around the Other types of units also possess the right to issue local legislature and control the territory,if it differentin intheir status in practice tohighlightorder lack the of equality between theunits. document of the territory of the unit, whereas Constitution of the RF had second meaning. Presidency of the V. Putin the Constitution of Tatarstan was declared to be the supreme “Population, demography,migration and national composition,” accessed April20,2012. of Tatarstan,” “Constitution Petrenko, Larisa When it comes to other types of units, itis important to just briefly note how they are 28 Nevertheless, little was done tochange the situation. Furthermore, before the 29 Nevertheless, it is claimed that autonomy autonomy isitis away secure that Nevertheless, the claimed to Vestnik Novgorodskii 15 , June , 11,2001, accessed April 20, 2012. CEU eTD Collection Publius 30 the 1992 Federation Treaty, and other treaties.” by Constitution, the areregulated of the federation andsubjects thefederal authorities between structure of federationthe is very The Constitutionunclear. that“thathighlights relationships todemandThe rolestarted agreements. andplacelegal in of similar documents the these mean to stop separatist claims but also set as an example for other units, not only republics, that Thiswasmainly the of RFandthe Tatarstan. between Republic was sighted agreement such specific unit only. This puts the asymmetry and inequality of the units to the next level. The first the with center of the describe relations the that Thesedocuments are agreements. bilateral signcalled also so and units sometimes the federal the government documents, legal these Besides and of units evenfurther. relation the federal structure the complicates that point another majority in the unit (for example, Bashkortostan, where Tatars constitute the majority). territory and expression of the culture and traditions of the titular nations, even if they are not a cases includedin law”.into presentfederal the accountnotvery Taking democratic nature of the trust of the President of the RF, inappropriate execution of his or her responsibilities and in other of lost the with connection “in reasons vague the with them dismiss to also but units the of heads passed. The logic behind this law is the ability of the President of the RF not only appointto the legislative and executive bodies of the state power of the units of the Russian Federation” was policy federal the of In 2004 government. lawthe on “Common principles of organization of the which leads confusion. to the supreme sourceof rights and obligations, is there no hierarchyother in legaldocumentation the Nicholas J. Lynn and Alexei V. Novikov, “Refederalizing Russia: Debates on the Idea of Federalism in Russia,” , Vol. 27, No. 2 (1997), 199. Coming back to the contradictions between federal and local constitution, there isalso there andlocal federal constitution, between back contradictions Coming tothe The last important point on the structure of the RF has to do with the recent more vertical more recent the with do to has RF the of structure the on point important last The 30 16 Besides the fact that Federal Constitution is the CEU eTD Collection (London: Longman, 1996), 75. 32 20, 2012. http://ria.ru/politics/20100928/280062074.html. 31 lot of which cause a the debates. trust most recent use of this law was in 2010 when the mayor of Moscow was dismissed due to lost of The level. new whole the to government the of structure vertical brings law this state, Russian indicated even lower number –48.5%with more than 40% of populationthe being Russians. 1989 Tatarsconstituted only majority a slight according tounofficial –52%.Officialdata census of by all,First people. of Tatar state of purpose the the being for was never applicable Tatarstan the Tatar people. So the claims were both, territorial and cultural. Nevertheless, the republic of even independent republic. Thesedemands were based onthe claims for self-determination of was first Autonomous republic within RSFSR that claimed their right toform a separate unit or of USSR. the practices “federal” so-called the resembles local relations and interests. Lastly,it puts under the question the federal structure of the RF and and federal between balance fragile already ruins isalso It RF. inthe unity and multiculturalism that dismiss of this right. This particular law shows that there is no harmony between the for self-determination. If this is one of the key principles of the RF, dismiss of the head means to do so in the titular republic can cause even more serious problems, exactly because of the right disrespect of the will of the people and the extraction of the rightfor the self-rule. Nevertheless, dismiss of the head of the unit which was previously elected can be seen as an example of the The state. the stability of the threat under the practice puts and is undemocratic itseen asavery of presidents republics was the dismissed. Marie Bennigsen Broxup, “Tatarstan and the Tatars,” in Tatars,” the and “Tatarstan Broxup, Bennigsen Marie Sergey Guneev, “Dismiss of Lujkov: President had no choice,” Talking specifically about Tatarstan as a unit of the federation,it should be noted that it To do so in other than republic units can cause discontent among Russian population, as 31 So far this law was used couple of time but none of the 17 TheNationalities Question in the post-Soviet States Ria Novosti, September28, 2010, accessed April accessed 32 CEU eTD Collection (London: Longman, 1996), 75. for the implementation of the right for self-determination of the ethnicities that do not enjoy their often ascribed to the peoples in general. This ethno-federalism can be seen as a democratic tool more rights and freedoms. As all republics are named after some titular nation, these rights are clearly enjoy in them Republics of practice. treatment becausealso of different the units but unit. The distinction between the two is, however, not always clear. and the center of jurisdiction the control the over strict necessary the for calls region, example, unitis. The presence of such asunits republics, ascribesthat meaningtotally different than,for orthat of this powerandwhatstatus the final ultimate has the legal document what understand very complex, often contradictory legal status of the units of the RF. As a result, it is hard to 1990s led tothevarious unilateral demands for sovereignty, political struggles, and as a result democratic legal system that would work but were not prepared for it. The chaotic events of the firstin leaderof RF the For time hadtomake the legal history and aspects. circumstances vast territory and complex ethnic composition of the state but also because of the historical discussedin details in Chapters 3and 4. Tatarstan and Russian Empire,later the RSFSR and the Russian Federation, which will be itunderstandand is 1994 important to path previousthe of relationshipthe Tatars, between self-determination. to understand In order whatkind of claims andwhy madewere between 1990 that the border served rather administrative purposes than were the expression of the right for 33 states. Around 26% of inhabitingall Tatars the USSRlived in Tatarstan. Secondly, hugenumber of was ethnic dispersed Tatars across federationthe and post-Soviet Marie Bennigsen Broxup, “Tatarstan and the Tatars,” in Tatars,” the and “Tatarstan Broxup, Bennigsen Marie This creates a federal system that is not only asymmetric due to various legal types of To conclude, federal the structure of RFthe is complicated very not only because of the 18 The Nationalities Question inthe post-Soviet States 33 This proves the point CEU eTD Collection presentin the relations between the federal government and the Republic of Tatarstan. opportunities, as well as politically active individuals, also contribute to it. All these aspects are important reasons for the special in practice status of the unit. Historical ties, economic own state. It can as well cause some problems. Furthermore, the legal aspect is not the only 19 CEU eTD Collection 179. in 34 whole understanding of the state was changed and now both, the state as a government, and the of the history but such formation as “state” as we see it right now is not an ancient creation. The RF.future of the federal democratic about doubts are there Asaresult democratization. towards level low and of commitment Russian population, greateconomic gapbetween some ethicallybased republics and the center importantmore than rights.group Among problems other aregrowing awareness of ethnic non- remained rights individual the Nevertheless, Constitution. in the minorities” of determination intosecondary. account RFtook The thisand included problem suchterms as “self- issue in the USSR as late as in 1980s but were never directly dealt with and were considered dissolution of the Soviet Union translated into the RF. Graham Smith deliberately highlights that the problems that were partly the cause of the thereal federal multinational state, in problem was of non-practical nature the this structure. was USSR the the Even though, caseevenfurther. the –complicated and Chechnya Tatarstan federal structure of the state and two strong nationalist and even separatistmovements – in the need in the real constitution that would matter in practice and not be just asymbol. The had followed the Tsarist times, when only personal decisions mattered, in 1991 the RF first faced Chapter 2: Theoretical Background – from Minority Rights to Federal to Rights Minority – from Background Theoretical 2: Chapter Graham Smith, “Federation, Defederation and Refederation: from the Soviet Union to RussianStatehood,” Federalism: The Multiethnic Challenge After 70 years of totalitarian regime, where everything was decided in Moscow, which People started People insometo organize started themselves kind from of very societies beginning the , ed. Graham Smith (New York, NY: Longman Publishing, 1995), 157- Unit 20 34 Ethnicity Ethnicity became conflicts an and ethnic CEU eTD Collection of California Press, 1977), 181. 36 1991), 7-8. Design and Power-sharing in the Post-modern Epoch, itlarge, is ruined by internal imperfection”. grew. As Montesquieu puts it “if a republic be small, itis destroyed by foreign forces; if it be government of power the andthe lessimportant became sothevoicesof people as they the did 35 desirable to leave it this way rather than to try to even it upby the means of assimilation or more varies from the majority, which means that there is a minority in the state. Furthermore, it is ethnically homogeneous. Heterogeneity meansoften onlythat a small of portion populationthe on theirorder todo In so, own. governmentshouldthe acknowledge that society the is not problem how toruleof such vast territory is a huge issue. conflicts and trying to coexist. In case of the RF, the largest state in the world, this particular whoethnicshare groups one stateand puttry forwardto theirinterestscausing without ethnic important. These can be various social groups but for my research the most important will be state is inhabited by the people who have different demands and consider different issues to be exist. by assemblies but not simple one when all people just come together, the rule of law should also shouldbe heard.AsOstromout, referring Hobbes, Vincent points be democracy to should ruled is. states of these as“Japan”howmultifaceted population “France”the takinginto account referred to orwithout is society andunitary. whole The complex as something homogeneous to referred are often subject of the state, the people, have mutual rights and obligations. On the global scale, the states Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu, Secondat de Louis Charles Vincent Ostrom, “A Conceptual-Computational Logic for Federal Systems of Governance,” in Governance,” of Systems Federal for Logic “A Conceptual-Computational Ostrom, Vincent 35 The main problem with the rule by assemblies was the fact that states tended to grow and One of wayssolvethe to this problem is togive people the right todecide onsome issues In order to exist, society has to agree on basic things and the voices of the minorities also The Spirit of Laws, of The Spirit 36 These imperfection can come from from fact that the come can Theseimperfection ed. Daniel J. Elazar (University Press of America, Inc., of America, Press (University Elazar J. Daniel ed. 21 ed. David Wallace Carrithers (Berkeley: University (Berkeley: Carrithers Wallace David ed. Constitutional CEU eTD Collection well as the unequal treatment of them with regard to the asymmetrical federal system. federal regardto theasymmetrical them of with treatment well unequal as the practice, even though equal on paper. So the question of minorities in the RF should be raised, as in different is also units ethnic the of the treatment Furthermore, theregionalism. are basedon federation are ethnic, which raises the point of ethno-federalism of the RF, whereas other units biggest question, however, remains the asymmetrical structure of the state. Some units of the political autonomybased on ethnicitythe is also right the granted to some ethnic The groups. Furthermore, the cultural self-determination of the peoples of the RF is not restricted. The belongingethnic and usage the languageof nativein the andcommunication, education art. the Constitution of the RF. Article 26 guarantees the right of the citizens of the RF to state their to ruleis it it thedivision units.into andof Minoritiesareprotected their by areguaranteed rights the state. It is also the biggest in terms of territory country in the world and the only possible way willchapter follow from this minority federalism.pattern to protection minority the self-governed unit within it, which basically turns unitary state into federal.the to This is granting issue in this go can state the where furthest The autonomy. territorial for strive can minority self-determination, political also but cultural only is not it If self-determination. of rights isthe minority the to grant can government the that rights important most the of One every democratic state, are no longer enough. Minorities require the protection and special rights. asrights itis already widely thatindividualacknowledged human whichrights, are guaranteed in radical means such as extermination cleansing.or Sotheminorities shouldbe granted some When itcomes to the RF, there are more than 120 differentethnic groups that constitute 22 CEU eTD Collection http://www.coe.int/what-we-do/human-rights/national-minorities. 39 38 Oxford University Press, 2007), 36-37. concerned about minorities. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of of Will Kymlicka’s importance the to overestimate isimpossible It minorities. about concerned theprocess. down casesslow insome which states, individual the of commitment the on depends fully principles the of implementation the still that the Convention that is developed by the Council is followed by those states that ratified it, of their rights. guarantee and minorities the Yugoslav War in order to stop the discrimination. Right now it isfunctioning as a protector of parts of the world. The concern with the minorities in the Council of Europe was born out of the IndependentExpert onMinority Issues” “mechanisms topromote minority including aWorkingrights, Minoritieson Group and an some where even were developed United Nations, the concern reached later this years toward the recognition of the minorities and their problems started in Europe. Even though some 37 inCooperation Europe. were rights EuropeanUnion,the theCounciland Europe of Organization for Security and minority the in interested became that organization main Three global. then local more was issues of the minorities and put forward their rights. Nevertheless, this concern at the beginning it. Various international organizations, starting since World War I, try to draw attention to the toward the protection of minorities is a world-wide issue now, it is impossible for states to ignore 2.1 Protection of Minorities and their Rights “Fostering diversity: when equality matches variety,” Ibid., 40. Will Kymlicka, It is wrong to assume, however, that Europe is the only part of the world that is National or ethnic minorities or indigenous people exist in every state. As the movement As the state. in every exist people indigenous or minorities ethnic or National Multicultural Odysseys. Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity 37 From the very name of these organizations itis clear that this trend 38 still nota lot of progress has been reached in other 39 Even though there are mechanisms to make sure Council ofEurope, 23 accessed May 2012.2, (New York, NY: CEU eTD Collection Rights 42 and Citizenship have how federal just their Nomatter unit. the own international theory and various conventions arenot because they rights butonly there already representation Special discriminated. are not also enjoy polyethnic rights, as they are notafraid toexpress theirbelonging to Tatar nation and they Nevertheless, as interest, rights. self-governing aregranted Tatars thebiggestrepresents andrights. polyethnic special representation basic types or forms of rights that national or ethnic minorities can demand – self-governing, 41 University Press, 2001), 221-241. Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship 40 state. of the assimilation policies of the state or simply denial of the fact that minorities exist on the territory do notusually demand any cultural grouprights,whereasor formerthe The do. problem is in are present on the territory of the country due to historical circumstances, and immigrants. Latter which minorities, national between made be should distinction main The rights. different demand them. for governance multination states with the protection of minority rights and provision of some level of self- minorities is desirable, he insists that the future of the states is not in one-nation of but rather in destruction the or subordination the nor states multination of split the neither and now right scholars in this area is nation-states. As the state of one nation was never the reality and is not political community – minorities, nations and transnational institutions. The main focus of the contribution to this topic with his focus being on Canada. Kymlicka islooking atthree levels of Will Kymlicka. “The Politics of Multiculturalism,” in Will Kymlicka, “Misunderstanding Nationalism," in Will Kymlicka, “Cosmopolitanism, Nation-States, and Minority Nationalism,” in (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995), 27-33. The author goesThe furtherauthor by distinguishing theminorities and sayingthatthey often 41 (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001), 243-253. If the state does recognize the minorities and they are organized, there are are three there minorities andare organized, recognize does they Ifthe state the 40 , co-authored with Christine Straehle (New NY:York, Oxford 42 In respect to my research, the firstset of rights Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism Multicultural Citizenship. Aliberal theoryof Minority 24 Politics intheVernacular: CEU eTD Collection 45 Federalism and Nationalism, 44 International Studies 43 for right its express to restricted not or isgranted minority ethnic or national Ifthe to. lead may outcomes butratherbecause of itbecausethe itself itis carenot special negative handled with is the beginning of the self-rule, autonomy and even the secession movement. This term is of nations that happen not tohave their own state. self-determination political and territorial but cultural the on not based mostly is discussion His issues that are most important for them, highlighting the advantages of the federal structure. to become a state, putting forward the structure of the state where minorities are let to govern the self-respect towards the main goal – self-rule. He, however, rejects the idea that every nation has “freeare self-governingpeople.” people views, either individually or collectively, as an ethnic group. Taylor goes further by claiming that assimilation of the minor group should be wiped out. People should be free to express their If we refer this to minorities, the circumstances should be builtis such way, that the threat of the recognize the group. Charles Taylor stresses the importance of the survival of the certain groups. a minority in toexpressorder the claimand for certainrights freedoms, should others the also 2.2 Right forSelf-determination will state. the the on fully depend of still discrimination may be, Geoff Gilbert helpfully point out the fact that the status of minorities, their privileges or Ibid., 53-58. Charles Taylor, “Why Do Nations Have to Become States?” in Geoff Gilbert, “Religio-Nationalist Minorities and the Development of Minority Rights Law,” Importantly the right to self-determination of the nation is rarely the end point. Rather it The conclusion that can be drawn from the above is the following – it is not enough to be , Vol.25, No. 3(Cambridge University Press, 1999), 389-410. ed. Guy Laforest (Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994), 41. 44 For him self-determination is just a little step from 25 Reconciling the Solitudes. Essays on Canadian 43 Review of 45 CEU eTD Collection 47 Local Politics in Russia 46 says that autonomy of certain regions that more or less correspond to the ethnic borders is should be policy-makers’ foremost goal.” borders.the “When responding toclaims of self-determination,basic protecting human rights over them. For Hannum,for example, the people and their security come first, not the integrity of set dispute or the borders can either the preserve It escalade conflict. lever the or the to to stop 2.3 Autonomy –Settling the Conflict or Step Towards Secession? federalism. of principles core the from minority for hierarchy andprotection ethnic the de-facto of groups. base legal poor minorities, ethnic the of definition constitutional unclear the strong feeling of de-democratization of the whole state. The special attention should be given to heard. More and more autonomy is taken away from the regions and federal units leaving a of Vladimir Putin during his presidency aiming towards re-centralization federationthe of is legal level from the very beginning. However, more and more often the criticism of the reforms discrimination or mistreatment of the minorities, but before it, in order to prevent this on the beneficial for the both parties. exercised, but the autonomy of the minority, that can be both, costly for the majority or Nevertheless, often the end point is not the dissolution of the state that let this right tobe thereis bigger state, self-determination within would thatitthe alwaysfurther. athreat go Hurst Hannum, “The Specter of Secession,” in transformation," conflict and rights, minority discourses, “Federal Heinemann-Gruder, Andreas When it comes to Russia, the right of self-determination was granted not after the Self-governance of the minority within the state, or autonomy, can be either a helpful tool , ed. Cameron Ross and Adrian Campbell (UK: T& F Books, 2008), 55-81. Foreign Affairs, 47 He does not approve the secession movements and movements secession the approve not does He 26 Vol. 77,No. 2(March/April, 1998): 15. 46 This recent trends make This recent trends depart Russia Federalism and CEU eTD Collection Autonomy Arrangements 49 Graham Smith (New York, NY:Longman Publishing, 1995), 239-254. 48 a without minority a then support international more gets entity autonomous an that likely more still decision of the ruling majority whether to grant an autonomy or not. Nevertheless, “itis internationally accepted rule or term for either “national minorities” and “autonomy” and it is international getinvolved actors in topic.this Hans-Joachim Heitze highlights that isthere no minorities. both of sides from in is movements the cases, astherearesocalled both independence articulated secession, for them. But the picture is notas bright asit may seem. The biggest threat of the autonomy, the are in important enjoy issuesthat self-rule the minorities ethnic regions,wherethe autonomous Scotland. of territory the on English though, only a little more than one per cent uses Gaelic, itis an official language together with education, defense, foreign affairs, and even fiscal policies being under the local control. Even comparative case. Scotland enjoys a high level of autonomy, with such affair asjudiciary, constitutionally. of autonomy and self-rule. The Basque Country, for example, is treated differently level high maintain minorities certain allowing System Communities Autonomous called so has really is. Taking intoaccount national minorities, more precisely Basques and Catalans, Spain Kingdom, correspond that tohis claim. or nation must have a state. He refers to several examples, such as Spain and the United ifenough, members the of minority the are group not discriminated against. Not every ethnicity Daniel J. Elazar, “United Kingdom,” in Kingdom,” “United J. Elazar, Daniel Montserrat Guibernau, “Spain: a Federation in the Making?” in The specific structure of Spain leaves room for the debates on how unitary state unitary forthe how thedebateson leaves of room Spain Thespecific structure It is no longer the case that autonomy is treated as an interstate issue, as more and more 48 The similar case is Scotland in the UK, which represents an interesting (UK: Longman Group UK Limited, 1991), 286-303. Federal Systems of the World: A Handbook of Federal, Confederal and 49 Both cases represent the state with unitary system but the 27 Federalism: The Multiethnic Challenge , ed. CEU eTD Collection 51 Studies Autonomy Reconsidered,” 50 federalism as a system that can work only under democratic rule. That is why division of powers power but also vertical. Of course, itis necessary to highlight that most authors refer to 2.4 Federalism in later. discussed details federal position on international questions, for example the issue of Kosovo. This will be Tatarstan is trying to prove its sovereignty by various mean, such as even disagreement with the intentions and memoranda). From this list, 14 agreements are with foreign states.” includes over50documents (international declarations,agreements, protocols oncooperation or connections. Nevertheless, “the list of agreements signed by the government of Tatarstan no matter how autonomous the unitmight be, Moscow is still in charge of international means inmany whereas states, it hosts only from Turkey.1 mission highlights thefact This that shouldbe One noted. of obviousthe problems is factthe thatTatarstan is by represented various international ties with other states, some points on the achievements of Tatarstan in this field aswell. beconsidered should unitary, than rather however,is not the only further step after autonomy is granted. The federal structure of the state, Thesecession, itbutsettlecan also conflict. the minority ideas secession the within plant status.” special Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, “Paradiplomacy in the RussianRegions: Tatarstan's SearchforStatehood,” Hans-Joachim Haintze, “Implementation of Minority Rights through the Devolution of Powers – The Concept of , Vol. 55, No. 4 (Taylor & Francis, Ltd., 2003): 617. As one of the indicators of autonomy of the state or unit is the ability to establish The key difference of the federal system is that it contains not only horizontal division of division horizontal only not contains it isthat system federal the of difference key The 50 Autonomy, of course, is not the perfect solution for all conflict cases as it can International Journal of Minority ofGroup Rights, 28 Vol. 9 (2002): 342. 51 Overall, Europe-Asia CEU eTD Collection 55 Comparative Analysis 54 Oxford University Press, Inc., 2002), 21. (New York, NY: Vail-Ballou Press, 1977), 25-52. 53 No.1 (Mar., 1971), 104. 52 asfederationscost, areusually expensive. democratic andpeaceful. This particular however, point, imposes on governmentthe biggestthe work. makecoexistence this coexist with mutual respect. Lijphart sees federalism with autonomous regions as the best way to democracy is nottowipe out differencesthe of populationthe butrather make various groups for myinterest of consociational The purpose the research.represents biggest the point by means of a grand coalition; the mutual veto; proportionality; and autonomy of the units. Last state the of – governance characteristics hasfour basic societies. Consociational heterogeneous Lijphard when he discussed consociational democracy. For him,it is the best way to deal with center. of power the centralized tool than more effective as recognized more tobecome decentralized. started Frank L. Wilson also stresses that even unitary and more or less homogeneous states recently any level.at helpseach come peoplecloserto andgovernment other. case federal this It structure but also strict rule of law should be present in order to make sure that there is no abuse of power order to federalism to work properly,not only the power should be divided on the several levels jurisdiction.” areas of andconcurrent exclusive formulated “explicitly and constitution government.” democratic phenomenon, or at least that it is incompatible with dictatorial forms of the is taken intoaccount. Ramesh Dikshit explicitly underlines that “…federalism is essentially a Jeffrey Kahn, “Federal Theory,” in Ramesh D. Dikshit, “Geography and Federalism,” Arend Lijphart, “Consociational Democracy,” in Democracy,” “Consociational Lijphart, Arend Frank L. Wilson, “Political Frameworks,” in The fact that federalism is closely related to democracy byArend was alsohighlighted todemocracy related is federalism that closely The fact 52 There are other features that make federalism work. Among them Among work. them are written make federalism features that other Thereare (New Jersey: Pearson Education,Inc., 2002), 153-170. 55 Other options – assimilation and partition – seem to be less Federalism, Democratization, and the Rule of Law in Russia 54 Concepts and issues inComparative Politics. An Introduction to This indicates that division of powers seems to be Democracy in Plural Societies: a Comparative Exploration Annals of the Association of American Geographers 29 (New NY: York, 53 , Vol. 61, So in So CEU eTD Collection 56 conclusion that this assumption is notentirely correct. According tohim,historical from the state or aiming towards it. Bringing up a number of examples, Burgess comes to the coming military either pressure the existence under to come federations claimed that Riker who as federal ischoose oppose to unitary.the structure The William around argument theory builtof picture. whole different the might observe correspond to ethnic boundaries in the Russian Federation. If they were drawn differently, we the way the federal units were drawn in Russia. It will be wrong to say that federal units attached not to individuals but to the territories. and way.freedoms are often rights some states, federal lifeinvery and In economic different units, if drawn a little different, could have shaped the whole federal state and its political, social important issue. It is wrong to treat the territories of federal units as given. The borders of the territorial aspect of the federalism is not widely discussed in the literature, though itis very Murphy. Even though his focus is on Belgium,he raises an important theoretical point. The of shortcomings. consociationalism and its four key principles, which in practice, nevertheless, seem to have a lot in Lijphart’s found be can problems these manage to ways the of One minority’. asymmetry can be considered as a way towards ethnic tensions, and danger of ‘tyranny by In case this RFfalls this into category). (the principles democratic arebuiltaround all federations mostly applicable to the states with different ethnic, religious or linguistic groups. However, not Multiethnic Challenge AlexanderMurphy, “Belgium’s Regional Divergence: Along theRoad to Federation,” in Consociational democracy, with federalism being one of its parts, is believed to be This is what is discussed by Michael Burgess. His main focus is on andwhystates how ison focus main His Burgess. by Michael is discussed iswhat This One of the examples that can be seen more or less positive is discussed by Alexander , ed. Graham Smith (New York, NY: Longman Publishing, 1995), 73-100. 30 56 This represents a particular interest because of because aparticular interest This represents Federalism: The CEU eTD Collection Oxford University Press, Inc., 2002), 47. 59 (New York, NY:Routlegde, 2006), 221. 58 Federalism. Theory and practice 57 share one political community.While looking at various examples, such as Canada, Switzerland, group. Federalism seems to be a logical outcome of the situation when diverse groups decide to that this is relevant to the federal states that contain more than one nation, linguistic or religious discussion involves relationshipthe between federalism and nationalism. Burges again highlights more privileges. and get regions asaresult these government when individual managedregional actors tobepolitical involved in dialoguefederal with the preconditions, such as social and ethnic cleavages, and de factoand de jure outcomes. ofboth, because canbeconsideredrelevant federalism RF, discussion of the asymmetric the stability.” designed toachieve flexibility in the pursuitof legitimacy and overallfederal political practice, asymmetry reflects difference; it does not create it. Asymmetrical outcomes are asymmetric, with the special focus on the second one. The author explicitly highlights that “in means. very different andthrough reasons federal states – through mutual agreement toshare the state – but due to completely different question seems to be more relevant in case of the RF as it came to existence not like many nevertheless, the main question remains not why but how federations come to existence. This existnow. that federal states for creation abaseof servedvarious as internal threats circumstances, economic reasons and other common interests, along with the external and/or Jeffrey Kahn, “Federal Theory,” in Michael Burgess, “Asymmetrical federalism and federation,” in federation,” and federalism “Asymmetrical Burgess, Michael in state,” offederal formation and origins the federation: and “Federalism Burgess, Michael Kahn, on the other hand, is not that positive. He explicitly highlights the Russian case, Taking a step further, Burgess considers two ways to build federalism - symmetric or 58 There are several preconditions for asymmetry as well as outcomes. In reference to (New York, NY: Routlegde,2006), 76-101. Federalism, Democratization, and the Rule of Law in Russia 31 Comparative Federalism. Theory and practice 59 In the case of the RF the Comparative (New NY: York, 57 For him, CEU eTD Collection Perspectives on Politics 62 Multiculturalism and Citizenship 61 identity,” in 60 a way to reconcile democracy and ethnic difference.” with ethnicassociated has specific frequently by been categories, recommended makers as policy with their different perception of power-sharing arise, which is the case of the RF. areconcentrated. minorities population consists of representatives of majority, and what can be called ‘nation units’, where importantly, Kymlicka touches the issue of asymmetrical federalism with regional units, where away. power of the Most part and self-governance mechanism to take as a butautonomy secession, as the minorities see the federal structure of the state not as a way to grant them some power-sharing arrangements. Even the stable federalism, however, contains the danger of that this system is flexible. The success of the federation will deeply depend on the territorial and as apanaceafor all by caused of Heruinsnature multination troubles state. theassumption the benot seen Federalism should latter. the on concentrates Kymlicka federalism, multination and federalism. multicultural political legitimacy, as well as the question of minorities, remains the key aspect of the the that concludes Burgess states. of such formation in the role crucial played circumstances Nevertheless, the case of Switzerland was referred to as ‘ideal’. Historical, economic and social states, as no common pattern was found in the comparison of different federal states. multicultural for formula single one is no there that conclusion the to comes author the etc., Henry E. Hale, “The Makeup and Breakup of Ethnofederal States: Why Russia Survives Where the USSR Fell,” Will Kymlicka, “Minority Nationalism and MultinationFederalism,” in Michael Burgess, “Federalism, nationalism and the national state. Legitimacy and the problem of national “Ethnofederalism, a federal political system in which component regions are intentionally are regions component inwhich system political federal a “Ethnofederalism, Kymlicka is concerned also issue.with this While between distinction drawing territorial Comparative Federalism. Theory and practice , Vol. 3, No. 1 (AmericanPolitical Science Association, 2005): 55. 60 61 (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001), 91-119. When both types of units are present in one country the problem 32 (New York, NY: Routlegde, 2006), 102-131. 62 One of the main reasons why the RF is Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, CEU eTD Collection Power-sharing in the Post-modern Epoch, 63 are also biggerpicture. partof the the in chapter, next the which arediscussed Russians during and Tatars Russian the Empiremost but importantly Soviet the during times, between aswell relations asthe federal of structure the Thehistorical development Tatars. the leadsminority abovediscussed from that the forrights federal to the designed specifically unit minority. another contains unit this even still homogeneous units. Even if the unitis designed as a homeland of minority within the majority, no completely are becausethere as can beanswer an taken neither example However, question, as there as cases that should that this is desirable, whereas other examples are negative. it. of consequences negative and positive the what are and territorial and unit boundaries is ithave between ethnic whether desirable to full coincidence issues are solved on the regional level, without interference of Kremlin. regions of the RF are not ‘ethnic’. Furthermore, units now enjoy more autonomy and many not breakingis thedemography; up 85% constitute Russians of population.the Structurally, 57 Ivo D. Duchcek, “Comparative Federalism: An Agenda for Additional Research,” in Research,” Additional for Agenda An Federalism: “Comparative Duchcek, D. Ivo The danger of ethno-federalism is stressed by Ivo D.Duchacek. He raises the question of In the context of the Russian Federation, Ifind itis important to look at the pattern ed. Daniel J. Elazar (University Press of America, Inc., 1991), 30. 33 63 There is no simple answer to this Constitutional Design and CEU eTD Collection Saratov, 2001), 43. 64 on the Bulgar state actually allowed the state became legitimate in the eyes of the neighbors and legal life and for areligion thepolitical, of social base Islam and as history. acceptance the The that the term is used for the purpose of the simplicity. Nevertheless, all the tribes are included in beassumed may it and other each from themselves distinguished that tribes different rather were noted that the term “Tatar” at that period was used not as an indicator of the ethnicity. There Islam. to Tatars the of conversion the for known Tatars, such as innovation in political life and unification of some tribes, Bulgar period is mostly centuries.VII-IX Among important other happened things that ancestorsthe to modernof the 3.1 Bulgars and Mongols Butbeforeimportant period anotherTatarstan. that shouldmentioned. be differences is the Kazan Khanate, which is named after the city which is still the capital of and underline the specificity of the history of the Tatar people. One of these important themselves distinguish to try clearly they Nevertheless, history. in their achievements their and history. As people other of that time andgeographical location, always Tatars include Mongols ancient is about discussion the when used is often Turkic term The it. with intertwines often Frid Rashitov, Frid One of chaptersof the historythe includes socalled “Bulgar which State” refers to the The history of the Tatars is closely related with the history of other Turkic peoples and is The History of Tatar People.From TimesAncient to Modern Days Chapter 3: Russian – Tatar Relations over Time over Relations –Tatar 3: Russian Chapter 34 64 Before that they were pagans. It also should be (The Russian Federation, Russian (The CEU eTD Collection Khanate was part of Mongolian Empire and after its fall became an independent unit. It was history start to come to connection after the fall of the Horde in the XV century. and the Slavic peoples,most importantly Russians. To be more specific, the Russian and Tatars history. For this paper, however, the biggest interest represents the relations between the Horde Tatarstan. This period is verylong andfull of shapedthat events notonly also but Tatar world the Golden Horde as their own. The cult of Chingiz Khan and his victories is still presentin 1986), 18-23. 66 18/1_tatarstan.html. identification,” 65 of the most important periods of the history. Tatars were the part of Mongolian rule, the Golden Horde, is also glorified and considered as one Bulgaria after the long period of wars between these two empires. Nevertheless, the period when nextperiod which is unification of Tatar the tribes and Mongols. The Mongolian annexedtribes time. to time from still heard claims are these Actually, to Bulgars. name to changethe of Tatars proposed importance of periodthe was also reflected during 1990s the when some nationalist groups now. This factis often used as a claim that these lands are original Tatar territory. The is located whereTatarstan river wasestablishedthe on Volga, era becausestate Bulgar important about this period as a cradle of the Tatar culture and glorifies this epoch. Geographically itis also Russians and became Tatars closely interlinked only in XIIcentury. history Tatar likes to talk set first relations with the Slavic people, mostly important Kievan Rus. However, the history of gave first opportunity to talk about sovereignty of the unit. This is also the period when the tribes Azade-Ayse Rorlich, self- national for choice the face ofTatarstan Inhabitants Tatars. orBashkir Bulgars “Either Gordeev, Jan This is the times when Kazan becomes the most important center of the Tatars. Kazan of center Tatars. the important most is becomes the timesThis the when Kazan This glorification of the Bulgar state can be considered controversial with regards to the 65 Nezavisimoya Gazeta, The Volga Tatars. A Profile in National Resilience May 18, 2010, accessedMay 16, 2012. http://www.ng.ru/regions/2010-05- 66 Tatars attribute the achievements and successes of andsuccesses theachievements attribute Tatars 35 (Stanford: HooverInstitution Press, CEU eTD Collection Saratov, 2001), 123-127. 70 Post-Soviet World. CaseStudies and Analysis 69 68 1986), 26-27. 67 3.2 Tatars within the Russian Empire inpower cameto Moscow. Terrible destroy the Khanate and annex its lands. Nevertheless,it became possible only when Ivan the Tatars were composed of various tribes,it was torn by number of feuds. Moscow’s aim was to Russian principalities that were involuntarily taxed became Kazan. Besides, due to the fact that main enemy the Whenthe of collapsed, sameempire the duetowaragreement. Mongol time paying tribute Mongolsto the times during butit Horde the was also Kazan payingat Khanate to Bulgars influenced Tatars. Basically it was Islamicfeudal state. When it comes to Russia, it was between these two periods is often specifically highlighted by the historians,indicating how ofmodern Russia. in center former territories the on the located Bulgar played major role in organization of Tatars. Russians by that time became Christian. It was biggestthe stumblingblock became religion. Before date, this as itwas indicated before, Islam liveallowed to inKazan onlybut borders. its They outside were economically restricted. lasted until the early XX century. The repression took various forms, such as Tatars were not part of Russianthe Tatars, history. For iserathis were when Tatars repressed by Russians andit be effectively manipulated for antagonistic purposes. Since that period the history of Tatars is in Tatarstan, even though it clearly indicates the struggle between Russians and Tatars and can Frid Rashitov, Frid Roza N. Musina, “Contemporary Ethnosocial and Ethnopolitical Processes in Tatarstan,” in Tatarstan,” in Processes Ethnopolitical and Ethnosocial “Contemporary Musina, N. Roza Ibid., 37. Azade-Ayse Rorlich, After a longAfter a period inof wars, 1552 Kazan fell. The History of Tatar People.From TimesAncient to Modern Days The Volga Tatars. A Profile in National Resilience 68 (New York, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1998), 195. 36 69 This date is still unofficially celebrated unofficially still is date This (Stanford: HooverInstitution Press, (The Russian Federation, Russian (The 67 The connection Ethnic Conflict in the 70 But CEU eTD Collection Saratov, 2001), 146. just the population of defeated lands. With this economic opportunities of Tatars also grew Russia is by populated variousthe peoples and they finally became the part of society,the not for Russia. This was a huge step for Russia at that time toward the acceptance of the fact that weretolerated. religions” It went as far as Russian Orthodox Church in 1773 proclaimed that all “traditional for Russia spread all over Russia. With the reign of Ekaterina the Great all religious persecutions were over. compulsory channeling of many Tatars to build Saint Petersburg, very soon Tatars began to Russiansupported rulers. struggle with those who repressed them. There are very little stories on those Tatars who on the events that had to do with rebel againstpolitical elite tomake sure that Tatars were in history events in order to indicate their place in Russian history. Often, however, they put stress Tatars. Christian of segment Russian, economic sanctions and educational “enlightenment”. As a result, there is now a big This policy had three main ways – physical elimination of all sings of Islam on the territory of assume that it was targeted only against the Tatars but it was the same for all other Muslims. new Christian Tatars were even respected by Russian political elite. However, it is wrong to 72 1986), 38-39. 71 be convert. as the were promised to allowed assoon but economic activities some Muslims also took place, as well as some hidden strategies, such as Muslims could not perform forbidden to open new Mosques; the old ones were closed at mass. Open compulsory baptism of Frid Rashitov, Frid Azade-Ayse Rorlich, Due to the restriction to live on the territory of Kazan and other reasons such as in Russian important in Tatars individual of importance the underline often Historians The History of Tatar People.From TimesAncient to Modern Days The Volga Tatars. A Profile in National Resilience 72 So Islam two centuries later became one of the traditional religions 37 (Stanford: HooverInstitution Press, (The Russian Federation, Russian (The 71 Actually, the CEU eTD Collection Saratov, 2001), 190. 74 (New York, NY: Praeger Publishers, CBS Educational and Professional Publishing, 1998), 85-86. 73 hard period inter-ethnic struggles. There is a claim nationalthat werefeelings manipulated often during this national equality. The situation was complicated even further by civil war which was also full of thefor claim around itbegan within to organize districts not an National Russia was exception. 3.3 Self-determination ofTatars during the Soviet times ethnic belonging), the assimilation process was also massive. Tatars are distinct and should notbecome russified(the biggest stress was put on religious and as cultural and linguistic. Even though there were those who firmly stood on the belief that industrial revolution and many others. of population of Russia, went through the same political, social and economic changes, such as history from Russian, starting from the middle of the XIX it becomes very hard. Tatars, as a part rapidly and spread of them as well. Even though there are some attempts to distance the Tatar place of newspapers in Tatar in different Russian cities aiming to develop national consciousness took movement systematization towards and unification of all Muslims in Russia. Second, theissuing war. Therevolution of important1905-1907 hadtwo for Tatars results. First, started Tatars the Frid Rashitov, Frid Rocky Rockett, L. Rocky 74 The beginning of the XX century was marked by the various national movements and With this started what can be called “Russification” of Tatars. It took various forms, such . 73 . Nevertheless,it still was more the war of various political ideologies than ethnic The History of Tatar People.From TimesAncient to Modern Days Ethnic Nationalities inthe Soviet Union. Sociological Perspectives on a Historical Problem, 38 (The Russian Federation, Russian (The CEU eTD Collection 77 76 Saratov, 2001), 217-219. governmental governmental support. education institutions, such aspects of culture as art andmusic developed rapidly and with published,language Tatar public wereopened, schools aswell universities andas higher other outside theunitflourished. Thiswasthe period when in were periodic newspapers Tatar political freedoms and rights, cultural and social development of the unit and Tatars in and hostility. These attempts were coming, of course, from the side of autonomous units. Aside from metwith equalize them andwere to USSR anyattempts of the establishers were the units that with innational years.government 370 within RFSFR. Nevertheless, this date is mostly praised by Tatars as they see it as a first unit status the of unitthe loweredwas somewhat Social Tatar andit became Autonomous Republic language wasproclaimed official with together Russian. in 1920 with strict borders that were described in the decree. Kazan became capital and Tatar 75 Russia. was a project on Tatar-Bashkir republic, which was never implemented due to civil war in first, it was just common concern about self-determination of all Muslims in Russia. Later there begins, its even status, though name andform couple changed of times through out of history. At from the national minorities. From this event the history of Tatar unit of the territory of Russia self-determination peoplesthe of thattookplace thattime gavetheSoviets amassive support fruitful for thosewho ground organizedOctober Great Revolution of 1917. Thepropaganda of Ibid., 239. Ibid., 224. Frid Rashitov, Frid 75 Nevertheless, the status of the autonomous republic was differentfrom the status of those Nevertheless, the policy toward national minorities in Russia became harsh which was a After the final victory of the Soviets the Tatar Soviet Social Republic was established The History of Tatar People.From TimesAncient to Modern Days 77 However, any attempts to go beyond of what was allowed were brutally 39 76 By the date of signing of the decree (The Russian Federation, Russian (The CEU eTD Collection Saratov, 2001), 260. 80 http://www.bavly-cbs.ru/index.php?id_article=104. 79 1986), 154-155. 78 in Tatars wasclaimed tobeexaggerated. period this For example, it was forbidden to research further the period of the Golden Horde and the role of from passports. the column fifth also took placeseemedfailed. but It propose somethingto like odd without taking that the out 1950s wasmostly tocreate can identity attempts The Russian. on Soviet replacethat ethnic ones any was education language. learning biggestdeterminant,however, The which other since economic, social, cultural and educational spheres, less and less people saw the necessity in Russian language by majority the of Tatars. the As Russian became indominant political, from to Tatar This linguistic which switch bemarked with was alsoaperiod the does. can between the unit and the upper level of the government and it can be openly claimed that it still which in 1930s could whole putthe nation under the threat. ideas, andnationalistic bourgeoisie indicate the of raise were to claimed often andinitiators stop Tatarstan was, however, the development of oilindustry. of the development was,however, the Tatarstan Asia, where is still quite big Tatars Diaspora. One of the most important events of this decade for however, aperiod of time when a lot of Tatars migrated beyond the RSFSR,mainly to Central propaganda of the unity of all Soviet people in front of the common enemy did its job. This was, post-Sovietthe republics, notall struggles though. Intra-union asidewere put andstrong still a very important period of USSR history and serves as one of not many unifying factors for Frid Rashitov, Frid Zufar Abdullin, “Where is beginning of the sources of Tatar oil?” April 1993, accessed May 9, 2012. Azade-Ayse Rorlich, Education Education not only language,changedit the also reconsidered some parts of history.the The followed decade markedwas mostly by WWIIandPatrioticthe War Great is which The History of Tatar People.From TimesAncient to Modern Days The Volga Tatars. A Profile in National Resilience 40 80 At the same time in early 1960s the 78 79 It later shaped the relations the Itlater shaped (Stanford: HooverInstitution Press, (The Russian Federation, Russian (The CEU eTD Collection only only butalsogrew tookforms of nationalisticraising andsometimes evenideas.separatist This period, however, lasted only couple of years, as by the end of 1980s national awareness not consciousness. national the of stagnation also but stagnation economic and political only not was good andidea unity of the and convergence took theleading role. Sotheperiod of Brezhnev rule his famous speech, declaring that in Unionthe nationalthe isquestion solved completely forand population of All state. the in wasstopped this beginningthe of 1980s the when Brezhnev made Assimilation lived side by side with somewhat raised national awareness of the non-Russian masses the history, ethnography and culture of the nations sharing this common state. language, ideology and so on. On the other hand, it was politically approve to research and put in Soviets, shared one huge country, unity was based on the common victory, common by that time all its were peak, people On reached Sovitization the hand,one period. a very contradictory includingMassive Tatars. researches weremade and published. 1960-1970scan So be marked as place in Alot of social history the science. books on of and culture werepublished, peoples the importance of ethnography and anthropology was recognized andstarted to take an important 41 CEU eTD Collection discussed above.discussed was never applicable for thepurpose of beingof people state the Tatar demography dueto people. So the claims were both, territorial and cultural. Nevertheless, the republic of Tatarstan sovereignty and even independence were based on the claims for self-determination of the Tatar special status with as much autonomy as the federal unitin the RF can get. The demands for Tatarstan. of government the and RF the of government Federal between agreement even independence weremade between 1990 and and 1994 weresettled by bilateral the more sovereignty and theclaims for it toTatarstan, comes completely When notsettled. still Incaseindependence. of Chechnya into the fightfor independencemilitary turned andisconflict Chechnya, already morein 1990stated autonomy theirlater towards willingness and even Socialist republics but also with the internal autonomous ones. Two of them, Tatarstan and within its borders. As the dissolution began, Russia had to deal not only with the exit of Soviet the new path. Among them, Russia was the only state that had autonomous regions and republics republics were the granted status independentof within internal the borders and Soviet started was designed for completely different political atmosphere. Nevertheless, by 1991 all fifteen more or less peaceful and followed the disputed pattern of uti possidetis,ignoring the fact that it second. Nevertheless, they were present in every part of the union. The dissolution itself was consequences. It is still disputable whether raising nationalistic moods were the first or the The dissolution of the USSR in the beginning of the 1990s had a lot of reasons and The republic stayed within the border of the federation. Nevertheless,it achieved a Chapter 4: Struggle for Current Status in Early 1990s Early in Status for Current Struggle 4: Chapter 42 CEU eTD Collection not clear. not autonomy. Tatarstan as a unit was interchangeably used with Tatars as people. The claims were also were various confusions in Tatar political elite between the territorial and cultural make sense geographically, as Tatarstan is surrounded by the units of Russian Federation. There pattern.the Furthermore, self-determination through establishmentindependentof did state not similar claims, nationalistic movements and appearance of new nation states, Tatarstan followed for territorial either thepeople.marked were or Becauseearly unit byahugenumber 1990s of identity their integrity or wereunderandterritorial autonomy question. wasnothreat There Europe and in the USSR. Tatarstan and Tatar people were never actually in a situation where in time same happening atthe were that precedents various the because of RF, articulated were the in Tatarstan of status special in the resulted end the in which independence, and sovereignty non-Russian culture andlanguage during Soviet the times. very lowlevel. Tatar language and culture was not discriminated against more than any other practiced andused in institutions, publicationsmedia, andmasseducational at even though the status and was mostly used. Nevertheless, Tatar language was never completely forgotten. It was of language.culture or during Of course, Soviet the times, Russian language hadthehighest base onthe infringe Tatars or culturally discriminate tosomehow attempts norecent There were integrate Tatars, however, they were mostly aimed at converting them from Islam to Christianity. Union, there was no discrimination of the Tatars. Looking back at history, there were attempts to So itcan be arguedthat self-determinationthe claims thatwerefollowed by demands for Cultural claims were also not that obvious because since the formation of the Soviet 43 CEU eTD Collection (April 2003): 10. 81 is may from of level clearvary and,nothis there case term,autonomy definition the of because that minority rights are maintained, contributes to stability of the state and integrity itsof borders Solution or Step toward Secession?” autonomy has several advantages. It allows making sure Permanent Autonomy: in“Territorial argument Hannum’s bestwas the Following outcome. independence,territorial or to Hannum.sovereignty according need for wasno there culture, language or people, Tatar towards policies discriminatory it. inand no both As beyond were there Tatarstan werealways integrated, politically Tatars or in other regions with Tatar people, the claims for independence seem irrelevant. Furthermore, life politics towards minorities. As there were no ethnic conflict oreven tension within Tatarstan political into non-inclusive resultthe of the were conflicts wherestates ethnic herefers to article integrity of the borders with the rightfor self-determination of all minorities within them. In his push them away. He avoids and criticizes any justifications of the secession and insists on the territory of the state it is beneficial for all parties to integrate them intopolitical life rather than one” international into amore dangerous adomestic dispute ethnic partition converts or secession new states with the use of secession is highly not desirable and also very dangerous. “A it puts inHorowitz his“TheSecede”, Right of the formation CrackedFoundations to the of the peaceful outcome, it was also desirable for both, federal government and local one. As Donald L. 4.1 TheRise of Separatism Donald L. Horowitz, “The Cracked Foundations of the Right to Secede,” 81 . He sees the secession as a clear path towards more violence. If minorities exist on the Nevertheless, the territorial autonomy was granted after 4 years of negotiations, and this In case of Tatarstan, autonomy of the federal unit was not only the most logical and 44 Journal of Democracy, Vol. 14, No 2 CEU eTD Collection Formation in Tatarstan's Nationalist Mobilization,” 83 http://www.zef.de/download/ethnic conflict/hannum.pdf. 82 canalsobelast adisadvantage. though, one, The to case. 85 84 Political Science of the City University of New York, Apr., 2000): 295. not just in the official status but actually referred to the differentlevel freedom.of Tatarstan bodies. administrative with andbureaucratic special the towards attention political claims for sovereignty independence.or It started off with revivalthe languagethe of orTOT. Public Center ofTatar formation with the demands for more cultural autonomy or even the revival of the Tatar culture with the proclaimed the beginning of Perestroika, the claims of Tatarstan became loud. Firstit started bilateral treaty in spite of official equal status of all units. grant more autonomy to Tatarstan than to any other unit and treat it differently with the help of remains stable for 17 year now. The vagueness of the term allowed the Russian Federation to 1994 there were no more claims either for more territorial or cultural autonomy. The situation governance is not seen by Hannum as the end of the road, for Tatarstan it actually was. Since status quo. freedom unionand to the republicsmaintained autonomous whereas administrative the republics, not happen by accident but was rather a respond on the Soviet policy that granted more economic associate the revival of the language and culture as a part of the struggle for sovereignty. This did languages wereequal only officially. however, were never to replace Russian language but rather to even up the usage of both, as Elise Giuliano, “Who Determines the Self in the Politics of Self-Determination? Identity and Preference and Identity Self-Determination? of Politics inthe Self the Determines “Who Giuliano, Elise Hurst Hannum. “Territorial Autonomy: Permanent Solution orStep toward Secession?” Ibid., 309. Ibid., 308-309. When in the late 1980s the Soviet Union started to face various changes and Gorbachev and changes various face to started Union Soviet the 1980s late in the When The situation in changes 1990 whenTOTand more radical “Ittifaq”party startedto 85 Theyear 1990markedthat differenceunion republics between and autonomous was 83 It was more or less social demands far from any Comparative Politics 45 82 Even though, autonomy and self- , Vol. 32, No. 3 (Ph.D. Program in 84 The intentions, The CEU eTD Collection 91 90 89 88 87 (London: Longman, 1996), 82. 86 relations the in refused unit.the it Tatarstan tosign unless its sovereignty was recognized. get officially more autonomy, if full independence was not possible. to give notattempts upon the leadershipdid Tatarstan Kazan.Nevertheless, capital Tatarstan’s 1990, being the first autonomous republic in RSFSRtodothe so. responded government to these changes by unilaterally itsannouncing sovereignty 30 Auguston Union after a five-year transitional period” transitional afive-year Union after treaty was a first step towards secession and “those republics would be free to leave the Soviet did not result in change of the status. Furthermore, Gorbachev clearly stated that rejection of the by was rejected RSFSR. the Tatarstan of independence of declaration the later month a independently, or act this on respond to Eitherfederation. from itself the distanced population of that Tatarstan canalsoindicate elections been granted more autonomy and sovereignty. The refuse to take part in the presidential That showed that majority of the people were convinced in the claims that Tatarstan should have interest of the elections. The goal was achieved as less than 40% voted on the federal elections. act with which Tatar nationalists tried to show that they were not part of the RSFSR and had no stop people from voting onthe first presidential elections in RSFSR.the and territorial autonomy. inledyear various cultural following Tatarstan on acts undertook tothe road that the towards the Ibid., 329. Ibid., 326. Ibid., 247. Ibid., 82. Marie Bennigsen Broxup, “Tatarstan and the Tatars,” the and “Tatarstan Broxup, Bennigsen Marie The USSR in 1991: A Record of Event, In May RSFSR1991 the leaders prepared Union the treaty was supposed that to frame In March 1991 nationalistic party “Ittifaq” organized demonstrations that had their aim to ed. Vera Tolz and Melanie Newton(Boulder: Westview Press, 1993), 83. 89 This decision was met with massive demonstrations in 91 . This was as close as Tatarstan got toward in 46 The Nationalities Question in the post-Soviet States 86 This was the firststep that 87 It was the symbolic the was It 90 This 88 CEU eTD Collection 93 92 quo of the republic, claiming that he would not sign the treaty as the unit of the RSFSR. initialthe goal. Atthe beginning of his presidency, hewas though, strongly opposing status the asthefirstelected andlaterpresident playedthecentral in of role republicthe from departure the higher turnout than federal the ones –63%. to its line. In June 1991 the presidential in elections republicthe were held andmarked by the was stillsticking Tatarstan Union itself. of Soviet Nevertheless, collapse the the and leadership in thechangeit was, of influencedcourse, mainthat factors Oneof endthe reach the not result. independence since beginningthe of its claims.As itbecomes obvious now,however, this did demonstrations and clashes between supported of the integrity of RSFSRthe andTatar independence of autonomousthe republic. ended Thedebated upwith unsanctioned ofthecomplete thediscussion with session the opened Supreme Soviet Tatarstan 1991 the Status 4.2 The Confusion ofthe Aims and Demands: Full Independence or aSpecial elections. the boycotted clearly while Tatarstan waselected that federation of the than president the republic president of the federation, Boris Yeltsin. As a result he had more legitimate power in the claims can be justified by the fact that he was more supported by the people of Tatarstan than the Ibid., 463. The USSR in 1991: A Record of Event, Either on the wave of the popular support or under the pressure of nationalistsin October ed. Vera Tolz and Melanie Newton(Boulder: Westview Press, 1993), 389. 92 The only candidate, Mintimer Shaimiev, was 47 93 His CEU eTD Collection Formation in Tatarstan's Nationalist Mobilization,” 97 96 (London: Longman, 1996), 83. Political Science of the City University of New York, Apr., 2000): 310. 95 94 strive for more autonomy: “Take as much sovereignty as they could swallow” expressed his discontent with the whole situation with the famous statement about regions that and Yeltsin himself, who even came toKazan to convince people to vote “no”. There he equal partners?” between basistreaties the of of international law, entitled to develop relations with the Russian Federation and other states on was the following “Doyou consider that the Republic of Tatarstan is a sovereign state, a subject confusion of the population and political actors of the republic. The question stated in the ballot obvious the demonstrated Italso and Tatars. of Tatarstan movement self-determination of the republic…” of status the onthe referendum for national called independence that state on nationalists. Nevertheless, “on October 24, the Supreme Soviet of Tatarstan adopted a resolution have greater rights” have greater TOT advocated a "yes" vote as the means to create a multiethnic state in which Tatars would whichthey to affirm The defacto. independence, moderate moreexisted claimed Tatarstan's forit. “The extremist groups ‘Ittifaq’ and ‘Azatlyq’ urged a "yes" vote in the referendum in order differentreasons for voting in favor. The only thing agreedonwasthe people that vote should understood and referendum political indicated absolutely differently and therefore actors parties infavor. voted people of majority versus national self-determination aim. The demands that Tatarstan should become the state of Elise Giuliano, “Who Determines the Self in the Politics of Self-Determination? Identity and Preference and Identity Self-Determination? of Politics inthe Self the Determines “Who Giuliano, Elise Bo Petersson, Marie Bennigsen Broxup, “Tatarstan and the Tatars,” in Tatars,” the and “Tatarstan Broxup, Bennigsen Marie The USSR in 1991: A Record of Event, The referendum took place five month later, in March 1992, and was the last component What people were voting for, however, remains the main unanswered question. Different National Self-Images and Regional Identities in Russia 97 . The confusion was not only in the purpose of referendum but in territorial ed. Vera Tolz and Melanie Newton(Boulder: Westview Press, 1993), 736. Comparative Politics 95 The referendum was openly opposed by Moscow 48 The Nationalities Question in the post-Soviet States (Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2001), 177. , Vol. 32, No. 3 (Ph.D. Program in 96 . In spite of this, 94 CEU eTD Collection (London: Longman, 1996), 84. 99 98 law, albeit with a special relationship with the Russian Federation” itwhereTatarstan was stated republic that subjectaccording independent is“an international to and ¾of ethnic Tatars lived outside of it. Nevertheless, the formation of Constitution of majority justa slight were Tatars factthat ignoring the time onemore putforward were Tatars Tatarstan weakenedTatarstan moderate as President more Shamievthe his and emergedgovernment asthe in for the nationalists “popularthat support fact by canbe the It confirmed was heard frequently. claims that were not coherent. They were done in the period of time when this kind of claims movement cannot be marked as fight for territorial or cultural autonomy. Itwas a mix of various independence, third foughtfor thecultural determination, recognition and revival. Thewhole complete in others federation, unitof the special the status wanted the confused -some were used interchangeable throughout the campaign. The demands of political elite were sovereign but also because of the vague claims. The terms ‘independence’ and ‘sovereignty’ it was complicated not only because of the resistance of the federal government to let the unit be determination of the Tatar people as they gained a sovereign unit. Nevertheless, the way towards adopted. of the federation. Lastly,it had been adopted before the constitution of the whole federation was RF. on the territory of Tatarstan it had binding legitimate power over constitution and laws of the the referendum. This constitution created a lot of controversies. First of all,it clearly stated that Marie Bennigsen Broxup, “Tatarstan and the Tatars,” in Tatars,” the and “Tatarstan Broxup, Bennigsen Marie Bo Petersson, 99 Secondly,it was the first constitution adopted in the autonomous republic on the territory The adoption of the constitution was viewed as a victory and the final stage of the self- National Self-Images and Regional Identities in Russia 49 The Nationalities Question in the post-Soviet States (Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2001), 165. 98 was the consequences of CEU eTD Collection Studies 103 140. Politics 102 (London: Longman, 1996), 86. Formation in Tatarstan's Nationalist Mobilization,” 100 victor. political 101 Political Science of the City University of New York, Apr., 2000), 295. already on a high level. The revival of the culture, that took place in every corner of the post- was that of Tatars autonomy cultural to the no threat also There was elite. political Tatarstan’s complete territorial autonomy or sovereignty was never actually desired either by Tatar people or reduction continued.2008, the standing.Autonomy of unitthe was greatly Withreduced. newthe presidency inof Putin 2000- Treaty surprised many political actors as it was a step back from where Tatarstan was already establish diplomatic ties with other states independently from the federal government. comply it with federalthe one and had control over unit’s budget. Nevertheless,it maintained the special status, preserved its constitution, with the promise to federation. itswassubordinated independenceto the partially andpolitically economic lost Tatarstan waswon. finalbattle the that for all whothought was asurprise The treaty those Powers Yeltsin signed the Treaty on the delimitation of Spheres of Authority and Mutual Delegation of was what they got in the end. This is also confirmed by the fact that in 1994 Shaimiev and several segments. What they really wanted was probably more autonomy in the federation. This struggle for power, strong nationalistic claimsvanished. Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, “Paradiplomacy in the RussianRegions: Tatarstan's SearchforStatehood,” Comparative Russia,” in Sovereignty of Regional Paradoxes the and NewFederalism “The Bahry, Donna Preference and Identity Self-Determination? of Politics inthe Self the Determines “Who Giuliano, Elise Marie Bennigsen Broxup, “Tatarstan and the Tatars,” in Tatars,” the and “Tatarstan Broxup, Bennigsen Marie , Vol. 55, No. 4 (Taylor &Francis, Ltd., Jun., 2003): 617. , Vol. 37, No. 2 (Ph.D. Program in Political Science of the City University of New York, Jan., 2005): 135- 101 The reasons for the step back are still ambiguous. The possible explanation is the fact that Tatar nationalists were not united by the single idea but rather tore public opinion into that away took most privileges Tatarstanthat self-proclaimed whichis still in power. 100 ” As soon as situation was stabilized and people saw that there is no longer Comparative Politics 50 The Nationalities Question in the post-Soviet States , Vol. 32, No. 3 (Ph.D. Program in 102 It was also allowed to 103 Europe-Asia Still, the CEU eTD Collection Bashkortostan andBashkortostan it. Chechnyaprove of Tatarstan is unique and not aprecedent to be used further by other units. The cases of case that everyone understands made surethat happy.authorities Russian parties were The other quickly, without any violence and satisfied both parties. Nevertheless,it is wrong to assume that as itwassettled canbe successful caseof considered the Tatarstan units, other Unlike some of the Yeltsin and Shaimiev. The economic advance of the units should not be forgotten as well. aswell relations as personal firmed threats, long by nationalistic were and the around history the and does not seem to become any shakier. All privileges that the unit has right now are built its special status which it still enjoys. These four years build a fundament which is still standing and as it was showed the people and elite were somewhat confused with the terms, Tatarstan got bestoutcome. the beconsidered can claims weresettle determination these was not the case with Tatars and Tatarstan, the way the problem was solved and self- whereas in reality there is no need for that unless the group rights of the nation are violated. As Formation in Tatarstan's Nationalist Mobilization,” 104 nationalism”. called “romantic The establishmentof relationshipthe andindependencebetween iswhat Radan culture Peter injure, practice Russian the remains dominantlanguage in governmentand the workplace.” not happen as smoothly nationalistas planned. “While Tatar and Russian enjoy de equal status unit. Furthermore, the revival of Tatar language, which was the starting point of the claims, did Soviet territory, couldhave been done independently from claimsthe for independence of the Journal of Nationalism and Ethnciity, 105 Political Science of the City University of New York, Apr., 2000): 308. Elise Giuliano, “Who Determines the Self in the Politics of Self-Determination? Identity and Preference and Identity Self-Determination? of Politics inthe Self the Determines “Who Giuliano, Elise Peter Radan, “The Badinter ArbitrationCommission and the partition of Yugoslavia,” Even though the claims about self-determination, sovereignty and so on had no firm base firm no had on so and sovereignty self-determination, about claims the though Even 105 Vol. 25, Issue 3 (1997): 540. People believed that every nation should have a nation state Comparative Politics 51 , Vol. 32, No. 3 (Ph.D. Program in Nationalities Papers: The 104 CEU eTD Collection caused by this fact. However, only Tatarstan was proposed However, agreementwith to signwas proposed only the caused byfact. separate this Tatarstan well known. Of course, itis irrelevant to compare cases and assume that war in Chechnya was and wereopposite refuse of the outcomes the Nevertheless, andTatarstan Chechnya. agreement, roots the of currentspecialthe status Twoof start. Tatarstan republics refusedsign to the responsibilities of the federation and subjects that later became that part of the text. This is where in early 1990s with the formation of the Federal Agreement which ascribed the rights and 5.1 Situation with the Legal Documentation theexecution andneat, coherent isthem of whatunder mark. big the question it but rather in the loose power that it still has in the RF. The principles described in the laws are circumstances. All this was grounded in the Constitution. To be more specific, not in the text of example federation did.The waslogical of andoutcome historical the geographic event itcreatedwas not the through mutual agreement toface thecommon likeenemy,for Switzerland of it. So the whole structure of the RF can be considered contradictory. Unlike many federations further. The fact that Tatarstan was the first unit to do so already underlines that special position further by signing the bilateral whereagreements, the of rights unitsthe were expanded even statuses was first grounded in the Constitution making it official.Later on it was taken even republics special by granting them listed inprivileges Chapter1. the This inconsistency in the The fact that Constitution does not have the power faced tohavewas already havethepower not it suppose does Constitution fact that The The asymmetrical federal structure of RFisthe making already the status of ethnicthe Chapter 5: Tatarstan Benefits in Practice in Benefits 5: Tatarstan Chapter 52 CEU eTD Collection 107 http://kp.ru/daily/23853/63252/. and Kazan”, and 106 alotis minor are it andclausethat There of such case infederation and tolerated. phrases the RF. the with associated a state itself calls and still its sovereignty declared even than the agreement. The best example is the fact that Tatarstan in 1990s unilaterally spite of the more vertical state structure that the RF got with the presidency of Putin.in Medvedev, nor Putin neither bother to not seems units the and opposition the of dissatisfaction visible The has Tatarstan. from what unitsdiffer haveclearly these that agreements The for. asked they status given was Dagestan nor Chechnya nor Bashkortostan neither obvious thatthis decision leaddid not giving to any any special to status republics,other as illustrated that Tatarstan is more equal than any other unit even in the peaceful times. It is him ignored andloyal by to Parliament. President were compete confederation this andclaims thatthis can be considered as afirst step towards turning federation the into and took many people in the RF by surprise. The dissatisfaction of the political opposition about openly criticize the whole idea. Nevertheless, Putin made it clear that this is how it is working to be such. It is wrong to assume that it is widely supported in the RF as a lot of politicians more loyal, the renewal itof indicates the fact that the status continues to be special and wanted second President of the RF, Vladimir Putin. of such relation,it also grants much more rights and was one of not many to be renewed by the other unit, including the right todeal with the natural resources. Not only it was the first example RF, which they did in 1994. Agreement itself gave Tatarstan much more privileges than to any The Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, Article 61. Olga Vandysheva, “Tatarstan was granted the special status. Gosduma ratified the agreement between Moscow between agreement the ratified Gosduma status. special the granted was “Tatarstan Vandysheva, Olga Another case is the Constitution of the unit. It raises more question and dissatisfaction ideas make Tatarstan of bestop and 1994 can seenasaseparatist If way agreement the to Komsomolskaya Pravda , February 10, 2007, accessed May 15, 2012. 53 107 This is the only 106 It clearly It CEU eTD Collection 110 March24, 2012. http://top.rbc.ru/society/23/03/2012/643068.shtml. 109 108 recognize itas well. state. Nevertheless, as it was noted, it is not enough to consider itself a group, others should considers itself as a subject tointernational law andprinciples without being anindependent laws.” ofinternational by principle guided the organization international agreements, exchanges diplomatic, consular, trade and other delegations, takes part in actions of international signs states, other with relation the enters Tatarstan of “Republic - states Constitution the of 62 Article states. independent other with ties international and diplomatic 5.2 International Relations followed inauguration Tatarstan in old the of procedure 2010. nothingaccepted asunconstitutional, done to was change situation the newand presidentof the tothe RF noreference as awhole. with again once Tatarstan” Republic of “faithfully serve the people of the Republic of Tatarstan” and “ensure the sovereignty of the in this phrase what so ever. The oath of the President of Tatarstan also states that he or she will Tatarstan”. of Republic of the commitments international the “Laws of the Republic of Tatarstan have the rule on the whole its territory, unless they contradict equality of the units. For example, the Article 59 in the constitution of Tatarstan states that contradict the Constitution of the RF. By doing so it undermines the core principle of the The Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, Article 62. “Tatarstan lost its Ministry of Interior Affairs because of the police tortures,” The Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, Article 59. That Tatarstan is trying to act as a separate state is also reflected in its attempt to establish 54 108 There is no reference to the RF the to reference no is There RBK , March 23, 2012, accessed 2012, 23, March , 110 109 So Tatarstan clearly SoTatarstan Even though it was it though Even CEU eTD Collection Studies 115 Politics 114 113 112 Studies 111 did. Tatarstan which others, and Moldova Azerbaijan, toexpress andhelp cooperate started ifneeded. willingnessto etc. Egypt, practice Islam, and the main partners are the Islam republics such as United Arab Emirates, took the easiest way. The cultural ties were established on the base of religion, asmost of Tatars agreements included economic, political, scientific and cultural cooperation. However, Tatarstan republic was signing various agreements with sovereign countries on the equal terms. These level intergovernmental the weretaken negotiations of inalready 1980s. enter to attempts asthefirst USSR, of the collapse the recently,itall after that started to assume to the international public in order to show that Tatarstan had an opposing to the RF opinion and opinion RF the to opposing an had Tatarstan that show to in order public international the to position on Kosovo, which he did nothesitate to articulate. make its point. For example, the president of the republic was very much against Russia’s was trying to still haveTatarstan major not any consequences, did andactions some rhetoric though Even RF. the on depend entirely not do they that show to trying were leaders political Tatar a sovereign isstate. anot Tatarstan even though arena, international the on be recognized ties andestablish if various butonly general connections to the theycorrespond federal law. not that independent from Moscow, after all.As a part of bilateral treaty, Tatarstan has a right to Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, “Paradiplomacy in the RussianRegions: Tatarstan's SearchforStatehood,” Russia,” in Sovereignty of Regional Paradoxes the and NewFederalism “The Bahry, Donna Ibid., 617. Ibid., 618. Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, “Paradiplomacy in the RussianRegions: Tatarstan's SearchforStatehood,” , Vol. 55, No. 4 (Taylor &Francis, Ltd., Jun., 2003): 621. , Vol. 55, No. 4 (Taylor & Francis, Ltd., Jun., 2003), 616. , Vol. 37, No. 2 (Ph.D. Program in Political Science of the City University of New York, Jan., 2005), 136. The other safe way was to establish ties with post-Soviet countries, such as Ukraine, There are some successful examples on international recognition of Tatarstan. It is wrong The mere agreements about cooperation and trade was not enough enough declare was its about cooperation not rightto The mereand trade to agreements 112 Actually, Tatarstan became some kind of target of many Islamic states, asthey states, ofmany of target Islamic becamesome kind Tatarstan Actually, 55 113 Nevertheless, all these agreements are 115 This kind of actions were targeted 111 Since then the Comparative Europe-Asia Europe-Asia 114 CEU eTD Collection and Kazan”, and 116 including oil deposits. resources, on natural the of RFandTatarstan the mutual was decision the renewedagreement the Tatarstan can at least somehow shape its relation also through the economy. One of the points in touch upon just briefly. Being one of the best economically developed regions in the RF, 5.3 Availability of Economic Resources for that. form. Onceagain, itsproved Tatarstan loyalty the biggerstateandto was giving some privileges extreme never them with cooperation and support Tatarstan’s and territory its on states Islamic of presence the form.RF The tolerated moderate took is situation desirable andthe not conflict that for this can be various but my claim would be that both parties, Tatarstan and the RF, realized it Thereasons didnot. But setof debates. another could haveraised region autonomous another of RF the iton was well Theknown and understood. autonomous factthat region supported happendid notin Kosovo was Tatarstan. trying tobeindependent andclear and obvious position conflict, as for example in Chechnya, on the religious and nationalistic ground. This, however, Christian Slavic Serbs and Tatars express its solidarity to Muslim Albanians, could easily raise a consequences. Russia, where the opposition to the central government is still not open and can have harsh was ready to express it. This kind of behaviors of the political unitis not common, especially in Olga Vandysheva, “Tatarstan was granted the special status. Gosduma ratified the agreement between Moscow between agreement the ratified Gosduma status. special the granted was “Tatarstan Vandysheva, Olga Another special position of the unitis its economic relation with Moscow, which I will The relation with Islamic states and position of Kosovo, where the RF clearly supports Komsomolskaya Pravda 116 It seems logical to manage and control resources together with the , February 10, 2007, accessed May 15, 2012. http://kp.ru/daily/23853/63252/. 56 CEU eTD Collection 28, 2012. http://www.ng.ru/regions/2006-12-14/1_kazan.html. 117 casesof to compare relations, can of beMoscow-Kazan seenasakey respect the distinction and toleration mutual The Kazan. and Moscow between relation in the problems any hardly are however, Iwould consider the loyalty of the region towards the government. There were and still important, most Oneof leaders. political the of the andpersonal power resources economics listed above –vague constitution,long historical chaoticrelations, events of 1990s, the all for are that important mostthe Iconsidered reasons from The equality.the departs situation steps done towards it. The case of Tatarstan shows with every new agreement and decision the that itis unconstitutional and if it proclaimed to be the state of equal units, there should be some is alsomanages to be recognized internationally, even in a very modest manner. It can be argued It feels very federation. within andfree the comfortable Tatarstan politically, and Economically dissatisfaction with its notas privileged many status times. assume that this does not cause the problem. For example, neighboring Bashkortostan voiced its other republics. Not only it was firstin many initiatives, often it remains the only. It is wrong to even mademoreit privileged that that agreement Butitfurtherthe on. with andwent even so government language, official as such units, other than rights more has constitutionally already was transferred to the budged. Logically enough, the amount was minimal. Tatarstan is in charge with the deposits. It was also under unit’s decision howmuch of the profit enjoys the benefits on its own. For example, the Agreement of 1994 concluded that only Soviet times with Moscow money and itis notreally fair if Tatarstan as a part of the bigger state federal it Nevertheless,unit. can be argued oilthat industry was developed in unitthe during the Andrei Riskin, “Kazan is a closer relative than Ufa,” than relative closer a is “Kazan Riskin, Andrei Summing up, Tatarstan enjoys privileges on many levels. First of all, as a republic it Nezavisimoya Gazeta, 57 117 Still, nothing seems to be changed. December 14, 2006, accessed April accessed 2006, 14, December CEU eTD Collection relation between the ethnic unit of the federation and the federal federal unit the ethnic federation and government. the of between the relation Chechnya, Bashkortostan and others. Furthermore, there are not many example of such good 58 CEU eTD Collection though though politicsthe couldof power have been used butnever was. even agreement special was offeredthe Tatarstan Nevertheless, desirable. or either possible separate from the RF in the early 1990s are nonsensical. Itwas obvious that nothing like that is to all andthreats claims that the theconclusion leads This to Tatarstan. partof the considerable was never and does not seem to be any time soon the case of Tatarstan. Russians compose a a half of the population of Chechnya was Russian. Now the unit is almost homogeneous. This Russian and it has been so for along period of time. For example, before the conflict, more than problem loyalty RF.the to Its central the to was nevergovernment under question. from some Russian influence through language, religion and economy, still does not cause any depart to tries though, even Tatarstan, unit. the and center the between confrontation open no is nevertheless, can be considered as “equal” as Tatarstan. Iam convinced that this is because there have long historical ties,influential leaders, economic opportunities and so on. None of them, to the Tatar-Russian, orunit-federal government, relations. There are other regions in the RF that position and status of Tatarstan listed above, I would like in conclusion to pay special attention in causing without any influencedmajor federation factors the Besidesthe problems. that unit independent of pretty the case therecanbeasuccessful it fact the proves that to closely tied Another thingis national composition of unit.the Almost half populationthe of is The case of Tatarstan, its autonomy and self-determination of Tatar minority which is Loyalty of a Unit as a Way Benefits to Get aWay as ofaUnit Loyalty Conclusion 59 CEU eTD Collection March24, 2012. http://top.rbc.ru/society/23/03/2012/643068.shtml. 121 Politics 120 Europe-Asia Studies 119 Studies 118 rejection. the territory of the unit.However, the answer of the Moscow on that was harsh and definite changing the alphabets. Tatar’s leaders were pushing for the replacing Cyrillic letter to Latin on the units are sovereign and the RF is not that decentralized as it may asit RFis unitsseem. decentralized the aresovereign and the not that government makes three points – freedom can be taken only as far as the center allows, none of more of centralizedmore RF. by the federaltowards structure step So change the this everything should be in order if the region does not want any troubles. Furthermore, it is also one the power away. This is also can be considered as an example to other units indicating that and when situation goes too far, federal government and the president of the RF can easily take republic’s government. was asubjectof it that Before to federal one. the wassubordinated of Tatarstan Affairs Interior policesuspects by and Tatarstan the death of the one of inthem Ministry March 2012 the of should federal share enlarging the revenues that tax budged. besendto of Tatarstan cultural ones, such as with the example language,of Putin also applied economic limits, such as political constrains, such as changing thestructure to more vertically firm and centralized, and morepresidenttowards Moscow-led closeauthoritarian to leadership of Putin. of reflection developed departure morethe of federal the byfirstdecentralized structure the and “Tatarstan lost its Ministry of Interior Affairs because of the police tortures,” Russia,” in Sovereignty of Regional Paradoxes the and NewFederalism “The Bahry, Donna Problem,” Commitment the and Operation, Structures, Federalism: for Struggle “Putin's Chebankova, Elena Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, “Paradiplomacy in the RussianRegions: Tatarstan's SearchforStatehood,” , Vol. 55, No. 4 (Taylor & Francis, Ltd., Jun., 2003): 625. , Vol. 37, No. 2 (Ph.D. Program in Political Science of the City University of New York, Jan., 2005): 140. Nevertheless, Russia’s tolerance has its limits. A good example of it would be the case of The restrictions went even further this year. After the great scandal about tortures of the of tortures about scandal great the After year. this further even went restrictions The 118 This rejection was not only the single case about the language but rather the , Vol. 59, No. 2 (Taylor& Francis, Ltd., Mar., 2007): 279. 121 This clearly shows that the freedom that the unit enjoys has its limits 60 RBK , March 23, 2012, accessed 2012, 23, March , 119 Comparative Apart from the 120 Europe-Asia CEU eTD Collection majority and the central government. If one of the elements had been lacked, the outcome would of both, moderate, not so much nationalistic mood of the unit and tolerant behavior of the This isthe result federal minority state. of the within the of self-determination example positive government. in the rights and liberties. This proves once again, that a lotin the RF is dependent on the central Tatarstan. Nevertheless, with the new power in charge, even Tatarstan is suffering the decrease region of Russia, known for its instability, would in close future enjoy the same treatment as minorities. It is an exception, not the rule. It is hard to imagine that, for example, any Caucasus towards Tatarstan self-proclaimed sovereignty. This is notcommon all-federal towards politics high economic development – all became prerequisites for the tolerance of Russian political elite to go as far as Tatarstan. Long common history, overall notaggressive or anti-Russian mood and not andThere aremany in ethnically thatare allowed regions republics Russia determined other results, however, almost entirely depend on the central federal government but not on the units. have beendifferent. the casemight borders, by of surrounded it RF.the regions If is the international hadlandlocked a state Tatarstan bebecause discussedismight not it not decidedtobeleft becauseto but central the government diplomatic ties and strong opposition to some federal opinions. The security matters, however,with external, and internal terms, in both politics, and resources, natural and intervention federal that make without they agreements trade various –economy, keymatters of three with the On the path towards self-determination, Tatarstan allowed itself maketo decision on the two out Anyways, the recent state of affairs allows us to call the example of Tatarstan in the RF a Overall, search the for self-determination within federal country is possible. The positive The federal government has a right to decide on security, economic and political issues. 61 CEU eTD Collection parts of the RF are transferred to the poor regions thorough budget. federal the thorough poorregions tothe RFaretransferred of the parts special status as a lot of them are so called subsidized regions meaning that money from rich with the federation cost the unit some money. Not all units in the RF are able to spend money on financial which cost federalthe budget, logically not enough, does cover. So tobe arepublic unit with its own president, constitution, extracted pages in the passport and so one takes some will have togive upsome of their privileges and this is again very dangerous. granted the status itof is republic.If between,the meansrepublics answer somewherethe that situation can blow up easy. Second, other units do not really correspond to the prerequisites to be none of the minorities will peacefully give it up. With the ethnic composition of the RF, the ethno-unit, the through self-determination Once therightof given theirto lower status. agree to change the formulation of textthe of constitutionthe regarding First, this. republics willnever about equality the of units.the On otherthe hand,it is not only impossiblealso but notdesirable partly. Until arerepublics officially and constitutionally have this we special cannotstatus speak be made. Most importantly, the vagueness of the Constitution should be eliminated, at least state and the special status. If it is problems that should be solved several recommendation can RF. be considered as an optimistic and encouraging model, atleast for the other minorities within the centralized power for the last 90year and that is still in transition intostable democracy, this can or any other less positive examples. Of course, this case is not perfect, but for the state with policies war, assimilation secessionist into the develop could Thescenarios been havedifferent. Furthermore, economically equalizing the status is a very hard thing to do. To be a ethno- It is obvious thatotherunits arenot happy asymmetrical about federal structure of the 62 CEU eTD Collection do so. RF should be reconsidered, there is neither sharp political necessity nor economic opportunity the of to structure the that argued be can it though Even state. the and population the of composition and tension. Nevertheless, tochange it even slightly is very hard because of the size and and desirable structure of the RF for now. It is not perfect and causes a lot of debates, problems Asymmetrical federalism with ethnic units which have a special status is the only logical 63 CEU eTD Collection Orenburg region, Ulyanovsk region. (oblast), and Region in South-Samara the in of Bashkortostan, East-Republic the Chuvashia, the North-East Republic of Udmurtia, in the North-West-Republic of Mari-El, in the West- to South and for 460 km from West toEast. In the North it borders Kirovsky region (oblast), in of such countries as Ireland, Lithuania, Sri-Lanka. The Republic stretches for 290 km from North Territory 53°58' 45°15' South, West and The 54°18' East. distance is from Moscow 797 km. Volgathe and the Kama rivers. Themost outlying pointsof Republicthe arein 56°39' North, Location The Republic of Tatarstan covers the territory of 68,000 sq. km which is roughly the size at of theconfluence frontierEurope of is on eastern the located of Tatarstan The Republic General Information about the Republic of Tatarstan of theRepublic about Information General Appendix 64 CEU eTD Collection growth - 4,0. The average population density is 55 persons per sq. km. Tatarstan is a multi-ethnic Dynamics of inpopulation growth 1995 per 1000: Birth -10,4,rate Death-rate - 12,93, Migration 22 urban and settlements 848rural Densitysettlements. of population - 55people/sq.km. million of urban and 1.0 million of rural population. In Tatarstan there are 19 cities and towns, Population Nizhnekamskoye. the and Kuibyshev by isoccupied reservoirs-the Republic the of of the territory part Certain Belaya and the Vyatka. The total flow of the four rivers makes 234 billion cu. m per year. The largest rivers of the Republic are the Volga, the Kama and its two navigable tributaries-the development of agriculture in Tatarstan, forests occupy only 16% of its territory. m. Soils are very diverse, the best fertile soils covering 1/3 of the territory. Due to high Republichas huge -annual resources water flow of of Republicrivers the 240billion exceeds cu. making sand, limestones and dolomites, clays, phosphorites, mineral waters, medical muds. The slates, copper ores, gypsum, cementraw material,mason's sand-gravel mixtures, and glass- bitumen. Besides, Tatarstan possesses the stocks of brown and black coal, goat, combustible extracted in the amount of 40 cu. m per ton of oil.The Republic holds rich stocks of petroleum Nova-Yelkhovskoye, Pervomaiskoye andBondyuzhskoye. Along with oil, bradenheadgasis are estimated to be 0.8-1.0 billion tons. The most well-known oil fields are Romashkinskoye, whole period of oil extraction in the Republic of Tatarstan. At present, oil stocks of Tatarstan Natural resources The population of the Republic of Tatarstan numbers some 3.7 million,including 2.7 The main wealth of Tatarstan is oil. More man 2.6 billion tons has been produced for the 65 CEU eTD Collection Tatarstan. 200 churches (some of them have not yet official registration) function in the Republic of Mari,the Udmurts. the Mordvinians,the At andpresent, someTatars. about700 mosques and the Kazan Khanate: it is shared by the other half of the population - the Russians, the Chuvashes, Bashkirs. The Orthodox Christianity appeared in the middle of the 16th century after collapse of century:present, it at is confessed byhalf of populationthe of Republicthe -theTatarsand the Religion part ofthepopulation. predominantin commercial Englishcircles. and otherlanguages European are known by small equalitythe both of official languages and- Tatar Russian. Nevertheless,Russian is still overwhelming majority of the Tatars speaks Russian. The Constitution of Tatarstan guarantees Altaic language family) and Russian (Slavic group languageof Indo-European family). The Language andAustralia. America TheTatar communitiesPetersburg. be can in found many also Asia, of countries Europe, Basin,West Siberia, Donbas (Ukraine), Kazakhstan, Middle Asia states, and Moscow and St. residents of the Republic of Tatarstan. Large groups of the Tatars are residents of the Volga-Ural Russians. republic made more upof than 70 ethnicTwo major groups. are ethnic groups Tatarsthe and the The Sunnite Islam in appeared territory the inof Tatarstan beginningthe of l0ththe Official languages of Republicthe Tatarstan are of language Tatar the (Turkic group of Due to some historical reasons only one-fourth of all the Tatars living in the ex-USSR are 66 CEU eTD Collection http://www.kcn.ru/tat_en/tatarstan/index.htm. 122 development. The North, Central, South and Southwest parts of the Republic are rural regions. chemical industry Oil-producingand region Southeast energetics. machine-buildingwith under Naberezhnue Cheiny-Nizhnekamsk agglomeration, majorindustries are automobile construction, building, chemical and light industry. New industrial Northeast region with the core in of which is the Kazan - Zelenodolsk agglomeration. Majorindustries of the region are machine- regions are distinguished in the territory of Tatarstan: Old industrial Northwest region, the base Economy present. are government the of branches Judicial and Executive Legislative, basedLEGAL SYSTEM: oncivil law system 6NovemberCONSTITUTION: 1991 NATIONAL HOLIDAY: Anniversary Declaration the of of Republic,the 30August (1990) 43districts. DIVISIONS: ADMINISTRATIVE Kazan CAPITAL: form: Respoublika Tatarstan. Local short form: Tatarstan. Digraph: RT Conventional long form: Republic of Tatarstan. Conventional short form: Tatarstan. Local long NAMES: Political profile The information is taken from “Tatarstan on the Internet,” accessed May 22, 2012. 22, May accessed Internet,” onthe “Tatarstan from taken is information The Tatarstan has Tatarstan industrial powerful andThree industrial stableagricultural potential sector. 67 122 CEU eTD Collection 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. mankind values, 2003. Moscow: Publishing House of the University of Sociology RAN, Center of common to all Leokadia. Drobizheva, Geographers Dikshit, Ramesh D. “Geography and Federalism.” 29, No.27(1994):1647-1651. Chenoy, Anuradha M. “Regional Politics in Russia.” 2007): 279-302. Problem.” Commitment Chebankova, Elena. “Putin's Struggle forFederalism: Operation, Structures, and the Routlegde,New York: 2006. problem of national identity.” In Burgess, Michael.“Federalism, nationalism and the national state. Legitimacy and the In origins states.” the formation federal and of federation: and “Federalism Michael.Burgess, Theory andpractice, In federalism federation.” and “Asymmetrical Michael.Burgess, post-Soviet States, Broxup, Marie Bennigsen. “Tatarstan and the Tatars.” In University 2005): of New York, 127-146. Comparative Politics Bahry, Donna. “The New Federalism and the Paradoxes of Regional Sovereignty in Russia.” Comparative Federalism. Theoryandpractice, Comparative Federalism. , Vol. 61, No., Vol. 61, 1(Mar., 1971):97-155. 75-93. , Vol. 37, No. 2 (Ph.D. Program in Political Science of the City 209-225. NewYork: Routlegde, 2006. Social Problemsthe ofInter-National Relation in post-Soviet Russia. Europe-Asia Studies Europe-Asia London: Longman, 1996. Comparative Federalism. Theoryandpractice, Bibliography 68 , Vol. 59, No. 2 (Taylor &Francis, Ltd., Mar., 76-101. New York:76-101. Routlegde, 2006. 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