Towards Nationalizing Regimes

Diana Kudaibergenova offers us a powerful analysis in nation-building processes after the collapse of the Soviet Union, comparing the trajectories of Latvia and Kazakhstan. By looking at the interrelation between power and nationhood, she highlights the complex articulations between the nature of political regimes and ideological choices related to constructing the nation. A must-read for all those following the post-Soviet nationalizing regimes and their evolution over time and space."—Marlene Laruelle, George Washington University

”In a sociological and ethnographic tour-de-force Diana T. Kudaibergenova deploys contrasting case studies of a democratic but ethnically nationalizing state, Latvia, and a pluralistic authoritarian state, Kazakhstan, to dissect the different paths to nation-making in the post-Soviet space. The central irony is that the more democratic state is more coercive toward its ethnic minorities and the more authoritarian state is relatively more inclusive. To explain this paradox the author delves into the composition of post-Soviet elites and the nationalizing discourses they adopted. This work deepens our understanding of how states make nations even when the ruling peoples are nearly swamped by the indigenous minorities." — Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan