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Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union

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Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union SOVEREIGNTY AFTER EMPIRE Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union Galina Starovoitova UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE CONTENTS Key Points v Foreword ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Contemporary Nationalism and the Problem of Self-Determination 3 3 Hopes and Disappointments: Case Studies 9 4 Approaches of Decision Makers: Interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, Jack Matlock, Sam Nunn, and Margaret Thatcher 30 5 Criteria for Self-Determination 36 6 Conclusion 39 Notes 41 Acknowledgments 43 About the Author 45 About the Institute 47 v on case studies and the observations of political lead- ers and top-level foreign policy officials. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CONTEMPORARY NATIONALISM Contrary to the scenarios of global integration, nation- alism has not weakened in global society, but has, in KEY POINTS fact, gained strength. National feelings are rooted in the idea of a linguistic, religious, and psychological community based on the ancient kinship of the mem- bers of a given ethnic group. Only a powerful internal security apparatus could maintain the Soviet Union’s facade of a multinational socialist federation, so it is not surprising that the em- pire disintegrated upon communism’s discreditation. The Soviet republics exercised their right to secede soon after the August 1991 putsch. Holding a status below the union republics in the Soviet hierarchical system, autonomous territories were not so privileged. INTRODUCTION THE UNATTAINABLE RIGHT TO SELF- DETERMINATION The “right” to self-determination has recently reemerged as the focus of much debate, as its fulfill- At a time when ethnic groups are striving to affirm ment—or denial—quite often results in mass violence. their nationhood—and their statehood in the interna- Such conflicts are aggravated by the uncertain posi- tional arena—more established states react to the prin- tion of the international community, which cannot ciple of self-determination with extreme suspicion. rely on precise guidelines for assessing the right to Some seem to believe that today’s political map of the self-determination. world constitutes a final global configuration. For the many ethnic minorities of the former Soviet Determining exactly who (or what) the right of self- Union, creating their own state seems to be the only determination applies to remains its most disputed as- hope of preserving their identity. In many cases, their pect. In the post–World War II era, it has been more or struggles mean secession from and territorial disinte- less commonly accepted that the right to self-determi- gration of Soviet successor states, whose leaders, sup- nation applies only to colonies, which filled the ranks ported by strong nationalist currents, seek to quash of the United Nations as full-fledged states during the such movements. Confronting an indifferent world wave of decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s. community, self-determination movements often feel It is obvious that the existing approaches to making forced to take up arms. decisions that will determine peoples’ futures are in- To prevent wars associated with self-determination, adequate. International institutions must be prepared the world community will need to equip such organi- to address such claims adequately. The failure to do so zations as the UN Security Council with a more so- will surely transform a promising era of independence phisticated legal mechanism that would infringe upon and international diversity into one of unbridled the international legal principle of nonintervention— chaos and mass violence. an issue that is still highly sensitive in some circles, de- spite such precedents as Bosnia, Somalia, and HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS: CASE Rwanda. STUDIES The consideration of different approaches to this difficult concept may help in the development of new The Russian Federation. From the very beginning of the criteria for legitimizing the right to self-determination. post-Soviet period, problems arising from Russia’s The author offers suggestions for such criteria based ethnic and regional diversity have influenced the vi country’s course of economic and political reform. Its status. Although Georgians and Abkhaz clashed over most challenging problem is trying to find a type of the issue in 1989, the violence was sporadic. federation that will enable its many ethnic groups to pursue their goal of self-determination while Crimea. While the Crimea still cannot be listed among preserving its integrity and viability as a multinational the numerous areas of violent ethno-political conflict state. in the Soviet successor states, it has recently become a Russia was the only federation in the Soviet Union focus of domestic and international tension, with with a three-tiered hierarchy of ethnically defined au- conflicting self-determination claims voiced against a tonomous formations: autonomous republics, re- background of interstate territorial disputes and an gions, and districts, each having a different degree of unsettled legacy of military-political issues left over autonomy from the central government. In reality, from the Soviet period. however, this complicated system did little to guaran- As the Crimean Tatars returned to their homeland tee minority rights, let alone the right to self-determi- from their Stalin-era relocation, the ideology of the nation. Crimean Tatar movement shifted toward more radical Not long after the union republics started moving demands, despite noticeable tensions between the away from Moscow, Russia’s autonomous regions be- “new” settlers and the local population. No longer gan to demand higher status and greater rights. Dur- content with mere ethnic minority status, the more ing 1990 and 1991, all autonomous republics radical Crimean Tatars claimed the right to national unilaterally declared themselves “sovereign states,” self-determination. deleting the word “autonomous” from their official At present, the Crimea’s case for self-determina- names, while practically all autonomous regions up- tion, involving secession from Ukraine, has attracted graded themselves to republics. little international support, since most observers con- The first serious ethno-political crisis in the Russ- cur that contemporary secessionist claims are basi- ian Federation occurred when the Chechen republic cally motivated by economic considerations, and the in the North Caucasus proclaimed itself independent Crimea’s Russian-speaking majority has not suffered from Russia soon after the August 1991 coup attempt, any civil or human rights violations under Ukrainian following the example of the union republics. Chech- rule. nya’s president, Dzhokhar Dudaev, was elected in Oc- tober 1991 on a platform of sovereignty for the Nagorno-Karabakh. During its nearly seven decades of Chechen republic. existence as an autonomous region within Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh was populated mostly by Georgia. While not formally a federation, Georgia had Armenians, though the region has no common a complex national-administrative structure under border with the Armenian republic and is, in fact, the Soviet regime. The relatively small Georgian separated from it by a narrow strip of Azeri land. Soviet Socialist Republic also included two While the Armenian side emphasized the concept autonomous republics, Abkhazia and Adzharia, and of self-determination—vaguely mentioned in the So- an autonomous region, South Ossetia. viet constitution—the Azeri side stressed the constitu- Tensions grew in the late 1980s as the South Osse- tional prohibition against changing republican tians attempted to pursue their right to self-determi- borders without the approval of the republic(s) af- nation and a change in territorial status. In the fall of fected by the change. 1990, South Ossetia declared itself a sovereign repub- As violence mounted against ethnic Armenians in lic within the Soviet Union, but its claims garnered lit- Azerbaijan, the number of Armenian refugees flowing tle if any support from Moscow. into Armenia and other Soviet republics steadily rose. The Abkhaz national movement emerged in 1978, However, by late 1988, the cycle of violence and retali- when mass rallies were held to support a plan to se- ation in the Armenian-Azeri conflict was complete, as cede from Georgia and join the Russian Federation. thousands of Azeris were forced to flee from Armenia These open expressions of discontent arose over a and Nagorno-Karabakh. The policy of ethnic cleans- draft of the new Abkhazian constitution. In the late ing had become “bilateral.” 1980s, the Abkhaz national movement resurfaced, While the prospects for peaceful settlement of the this time with renewed demands for union republic conflict seem increasingly remote, what appears to be vii a permanent cease-fire was finally established in May region’s political organizations are radicalized and na- 1994. Yet the lull appears tenuous. tionalist movements in sympathetic “Big Brother” countries gain strength, making it increasingly diffi- Self-Determination through Secession: Typical Stages of cult for these countries’ government officials to main- Conflict. A precondition of the struggle for self- tain a neutral position. determination typically involves a minority ethnic Organized ethnic clashes and pogroms begin to group’s perception that its autonomy within the plague the region and the surrounding area. Finally, framework of a multinational state—or even its very war slogans fill the mass media on both sides of the existence—is endangered. struggle as the situation escalates to full-scale
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