Ethnic Politics after Communism

The Soviet Union encompassed dozens of nationalities and ethnicities, and in the wake of its collapse, the politics of ethnicity within its former borders and throughout Eastern Europe have undergone tremendous changes. In this book, Zoltan Barany and Robert G. Moser bring together eminent scholars whose theoretically diverse and empirically rich research examines various facets of ethnicity in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia: ethnic identity and culture, mobilization, parties and voting, conflict, and ethnic migration. The contributors consider how ethnic forces have influenced political outcomes that range from voting to violence and protest mobilization to language acquisition. Conversely, each chapter demonstrates that political behavior itself has an impact on the forms and strength of ethnic identity. Thus, ethnicity is deemed to be a contested, malleable, and constructed force rather than a static characteristic inherent in the attributes of groups and individuals with a common religion, race, or national origin.

About the Author

Zoltan Barany is Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor of Government and Professor of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Future of NATO Expansion and The East European Gypsies . Robert G. Moser is Associate Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Unexpected Outcomes: Electoral Systems, Parties, and Representation in Russia .