DISCURSIVE MODELS OF POST-SOVIET NATION-BUILDING: RUSSIA, KAZAKHSTAN, BELARUS

The paper analyzes the conceptual and terminological foundations of official nation-building discourses in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. It highlights key words and categories of these discourses, identifying the main vectors of nation-building discourse according to the “top-down” model. The research is based on a large amount of empirical material and follows a constructivist methodology, assuming that ruling elites play a decisive role in forming a nation and its “portfolio” of identities. The database is primarily based on an analysis of official documents defining nation-building in the countries. The empirical material is presented in the form of tables containing discursive series on nation-building policy. Results show that the official discourse formed in the three states is based, firstly, on the legacy of the Soviet national policy with an assessment of polyethnicity as an advantage; secondly, on the assertion of the immutable nature of independence; thirdly, on the developed civil discourse formed by the “core” concepts of “nation” and “people”. The appeal to ethnicity in three countries is examined, including the ethnic dimension of nation-building discourse. Kazakhstan and Belarus focus on the languages of ethnic majorities, while Russia focuses on the neo-imperial concept of Russianness. The civilizational vector of nation-building discourse is shared among countries but its meaning varies