Evolution of the Russian-German Ethnopolitical System

The article provides analysis of Russian-German relations as a special ethnopolitical system. The author defines the ethnopolitical system at the interstate level as a relationship between two or more ethnic groups, which acquires a new quality expressed through the creation of a common political system. This system must include five components: a significant representation of one nation in another nation’s state; change in the quality of statehood of, at least, one of the participants; the emergence of new nations, intensive interaction between the participants and, finally, institutionalization. The author believes that Russian-German relations of the XVIII– XIX centuries were an example of such ethno-political system, which was characterized by all of the five listed characteristics. The development of this system included a number of stages: the emergence (the beginning of the XVIII century), the rise (XVIII – the beginning of the XIX century), zenith point (the second quarter of the XIX century), crisis (1850s), fall (the second half of the XIX century), and disintegration (the first half of the XX century) as the result of the two world wars. However, the modern ethnopolitical map of Eastern Europe, resulted from the Russian-German system, has a serious conflict potential.