Nation-Building and Common Values in Russia

This work analyzes the preconditions for and processes of "nation-building", while the new element is the focus on "values" in the largest country among the FSU states-Russia. It is the third in a series on nation-building and ethnic integration in post-Soviet societies.

Vladimir Putin has explicitly based his nation-building initiatives on the assumption that there exists a vast pool of common values in Russia that cut across ethnic and regional divides. Nation-Building and Common Values in Russia explores whether Putin is correct in his assumption, and to what degree a ''commonality of values'' among the citizens of a country is a crucial element in the establishment of a common identity among them. The study raises two basic questions: Which values are actually common among various groups in Russia''s population? And which nation-building strategies are the Russian authorities actually pursuing, centrally and locally? Sociological and political approaches to the study of nation-building and national cohesion in Russia are employed to answer these questions, and the findings contribute to a better understanding of nation-building processes in post-Communist Russia in general and of Putin''s strategies in particular.