Echoes of Empire: The imperial origins of nationalism in Eurasia

Why has nationalism been a powerful mobilizing force among some ethnic groups in Eurasia but not others? This book brings together insights from comparative historical analysis, original archival research, and quantitative analysis to argue long-run patterns of Russian imperial rule have powerful and enduring effects on nationalist mobilization.

While existing literature has largely focused on the role played by Soviet policies and institutions, I point to an underexamined source of ideational and attitudinal persistence in Eurasia: legacies of pre-Soviet imperial rule. Specifically, historical legacies of political violence from Russian imperial rule shaped local identity narratives at the mass level, persisting across generations into the Soviet period and beyond. Where Russian rule was established through violent military conquest, accompanied by ethnic cleansing or forced sedentarization, local narratives emphasized antagonistic historical relations with Russia, lionized pre-colonial leaders and resistance fighters, and fostered negative affective dispositions towards Moscow. 

In the late Soviet period, nationalist activists were able to galvanize support where such narratives were already resonant among the population, with regional authorities facing significant bottom-up pressure to accommodate nationalist demands and pursue nation-building policies at the local level. Where local narratives were milder, however, activists struggled to rally support for nationalist causes, and their attempts to craft alternative narratives failed to resonate.

Drawing upon comparative historical analysis, this manuscript also outlines an analytical framework to explain the conditions under which Russian imperial rule was accompanied by political violence in some cases but not others.  Violence was greatest, I argue, when security concerns dominated and Russia failed to co-opt local political elites. This framework can thus help to explain some of the broad patterns of Russian imperial rule across both space and time, as well as the critical junctures therein.

As such, I argue that empire “echoes” more loudly in some cases than others, with important implications for the study of nationalism, political development, and our understanding of contemporary Russian domestic and foreign policy.