FEAS RESEARCH E-BULLETIN FEAS RESEARCH E-BULLETIN DECEMBER 2017 | Page 9

Author: Dinç, Deniz
Title: The Rise and Decline of Ethnic Mobilization and Sovereignty in Tatarstan
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Şen
Co-supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu Bonnenfant
Department: International Relations
Date: June 2017
Abstract: This thesis analyzes the rise and decline of the intertwined concepts of ethnic mobilization
and sovereignty in the case of Tatarstan. The rise and fall of the ethnic revival of the Tatars is
examined within a micro perspective as a part of the ongoing concept of autonomous sovereignty.
The post-Soviet sovereignty experience of Tatarstan is evaluated within a macro chronological
perspective taking the concept of state capacity into account. Research findings of this study reveal
that the ethno-national nomenklatura network under the leadership of Mintimer Shaimiev was
always the determinant in shaping the content of the ethnic revival in Tatarstan compared with the
other rival actors, TOTs and Democratic Opposition. The legacy of the Soviet nationality policies
formed a solid ethnicity regime structure, which created and constrained the Tatar nomenklatura
elites. Thanks to this historical legacy, the Tatar nomenklatura elites mobilized and
instrumentalized nationalism for their elite survival strategy and self-gain in the period of ethnic
revival. During the 1990s, due to the expansion of the sovereignty of Tatarstan, the Tatar
nomenklatura elites focused on obtaining as many concessions as possible from the federal center
by putting forward the discourse of sovereignty. However, starting from the 2000s until today, the
Tatar
ethno-national
nomenklatura
exhibited
a
very
submissive
attitude
against
the
overcentralization policies of Moscow. Having forgotten the sovereignty discourse of the 1990s, the
Tatar elites currently chase federal subsidies and investments, which reveals how their pragmatic
nationalist view easily adopts the new political conjectures
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