Transformation of personal identity structure in the regions of post-Soviet Russia and its impact on interethnic relations: the cases of the republics of Tuva, Khakassia and Altai
The demise of Soviet supraethnic identity led to the feeling of psychological discomfort in ex-Soviet citizens. The frustrated population turned to time-tested mechanisms of consolidation, primarily to ethnic identity. This turn triggered a change in the current state of interethnic relations. The article examines how the transformation of personal identity structure influenced the nature and dynamics of assessing interethnic relations in the post-Soviet period. Our analysis is based on sociological research the author conducted in the regions of South Siberia (Republics of Khakassia, Altai and Tuva) in 2013-2015. For the purposes of comparison, we also cite the data obtained by other researchers since the 1990s. From the 1990s to the 2010s ethnic and regional identities in the three regions were more conspicuous than the civic national identity. Interethnic tension fueled by migration and banal nationalism peaked in mid-1990s, but open conflicts rarely broke out. The outcomes of a 2013 survey showed that the civic Russian identity is now prevailing in the identity structure in the region (32.3% of respondents), followed by the regional (21.7%) and local (15.8%) identities. Ethnic Russians most readily identified themselves as holders of civic Russian identity (37%). Among the Turkic ethnicities (35% of Khakassians, 27.4% of Tuvans and 21.6 % of Altaians), the regional identity prevails. Both poll respondents and experts in 2013 still chose to describe interethnic relations in their regions in the terms of ‘permanent tension'. 40% of them saw the tension as latent, 6% said they felt strong tension, while 7.5% found it difficult to characterize it in any specific way. Of ethnic groups within the three regions, Tuvans proved to be the most worried about the current state of interethnic relations, with 7.5% of them referring to ‘strong tension'. The year 2014 saw certain shifts in the structure of personal identities and the assessments of interethnic relations. Russian civic identity lost between 2% and 10% of its popularity. An analysis if tension and conflict index showed that negative opinion of interethnic relations was in the rise in 2014. Overall, we did not find a direct correlation between the transformation of personal identity structure in the region and the dynamics of assessing interethnic relations in the region. The presence of permanent tension as seen by the people of a region should be seen as determined by a range of factors, including economic, political and social.