Ethnic Policy in the Russian National Republics

In this paper, the author attempts to analyze and identify common particularities and trends in the realization of ethnic policy in the 21 National Russian republics. In turn, under the ethnic policy author is aware of the ruling of a "local nationalism". In other words, the author examines how the various agents, especially regional political elites, construct identity of "titular ethnic groups." Analysis is carried out on two levels: the level of structures and the level of actors. In the first case, we studied ethno-cultural policy, the ethnic composition of the local political elites and the population census. This means the complex institutional arrangements and formation, which broadly define the position of the local "ethnic groups". In the second case, we studied ethnic entrepreneurs, such as national non-governments organizations and movements. In addition, the author presents a comparative analysis of ethnic policy in two republics: Tatarstan and Mordovia. In the any academic literature, Tatarstan has traditionally been considered a serious area of ethnic policy, focused on the formation of a strong national identity of the titular ethnic group. Since the 1990s Mordovia has not particularly manifested itself in terms of the ethnic dimension. The author tries to show how ethnicity is actualized or not in the political framework of these republics.