the national state is the common state form in modern Europe right of nations to self-determination --> problems: conflicts

with other nations, breakup of empires, other states; chauvinism minorities can have a lot of rights in modern democratic states (even in national states) all the big European nations have their own national state in the age of the EU political powers lies anyways with transnational organisations Russian Federation no real democracy / no Russian national state Russians identity: stuck between soviet, imperial and national imperial chauvinism and selfhatred and fear of the breakup into national states Where are the problems with the formation of the Russian national identity / national state Russian Empire Russian ethnic core, but multiethnical empire due to conquests it never relied as much on ethnical allegiance, as on class different national elites were bound to the dynasty modernization leads to national awakenings, who want their own national state Russian case: lived in a somewhat Russian state (historical, religion, symbols) compensated lack of rights and their poverty (even in comparison with other nations) with the symbolical participation in the glory hence the reactionary character of RNac when Russian nationalists imagined a Russian national state it never was supposed to be reduced to the Russian ethnic territory (not possible / give up the conquered territories) therefore Russian national state: more rights for Russians / less for minorities Russification of all the lands conquered by Russian arms imperial in character / anti-democratic when the empire looses the traditional legitimation and support with the masses, they turn to Russian nationalism for the revolutionaries they are therefore the enemy (revolutionaries are an internationalist bunch / even russophobic ???) new internationalist Soviet empire (shouldn't originally be an empire) no ties in name to

the Russians Rossiskaja federational republic not like the others, not Republic of the Russian nation: the rest, where nations are to small / live in a sea of russians to get their own republic autonomy (no academy of science, no Russian KP) accelerated modernization meant a transfer of resources from the center to the new national republics exploitation of the Russians in USSR (new Russian nationalism of the 70's) for the one / special role of the Russians for the others USSR federation of equals in theory / centralized totalitarian empire in practice vanguard to world revolution / heir of the empire of Russian conquerors Stalin Peter the Great Ivan Grozny (new hymn - Rus') Russians the big brothers Soviet nation on the basis of Russian language and culture there can be no Russian Republic because the USSR is Russian Russian nationalist idea can only mean Russification of the entire USSR Russians national identity unclear, blurred Russian empire and USSR collapsed because of the natural formation of nations which the USSR even supported 1917 most nations had no clear identity, no territory... Russian nationalism from Stalin on was hatched as an alternative ideology to the socialist one End of USSR: russophile anti-democratism leads to russophob democrats Russian national identity in the RF is again ambigous, because that state is neither a natural state for the Russians nor the place where a lot of nations want to be (Caucasus) only thing that holds it all together: power vertical The new Russia is careful in supporting irridentism in its diaspora, because that would mean giving up the RF ideology of a multinational state and the role of the big brother among CIS-states every attempt to make Russia more democratic leads to separitism of the other nations 1717 70,7% , 1762- - 62,3%, 1795 - 48,9%, 1857- - 45,9%, 1914- - 44,6%. , (79,8% 2002 , ).