THE IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON NATIONAL IDENTITIES IN POST-SOVIET SOCIETIES

The central concern of the thesis is to investigate the impact of globalisation on national identities in post-Soviet societies. Contrary to previous scholarship studying identity narratives enhanced and produced by political and economic elites within the space of the former USSR, this thesis focuses its analysis on how the wider public’s perception of their national identity may have changed as a consequence of increased globalisation since 1991. In order to showcase the voices of the previously unrepresented masses, the thesis as a case sui generis approaches the study of globalisation and nationalism in the post-Soviet world from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. It uses a mixed-method approach that confronts wider statistical trends identified on the region for the decades of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s with empirical data arising from focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews in one post-Soviet state, namely in Kazakhstan. The findings reveal that globalisation and nationalism may interact in rather contradicting ways in post-Soviet societies. University-educated people especially, through contact with globalisation may develop both nationalist and globalist attitudes. Using the case study of the former Soviet Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, with its dual state-led promotion of a civic Kazakhstani identity and an ethnic Kazakh identity, the thesis demonstrates that not only the rooted “somewheres” but also the cosmopolitan “anywheres” can be seen to embrace a national “resistance identity” opposing globalising tendencies and/or dominant elite narratives on national identity. Contrary to the dominant Western view, the thesis does not find an individual’s educational background to be the main defining criterion for nationalist sentiment within the states of the former USSR. Rather than education, both the statistical and non-statistical analyses find a post-Soviet citizen’s age, gender and pre-university social experiences act as an important predictor for a nationalist attitude. The thesis therefore asks future research to critically review the main criteria that differentiate a nationalist from a cosmopolitan in general. It also suggests that using a gendered lens on globalisation might offer new insights into the complexities of globalisation and nationalism.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2020

Author dc:creator

• Dall’Agnola, Jasmin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Whitmore, Sarah
• Isaacs, Rico
• Wheatley, Jon

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/hdxy-6849

OAI identifier oai:identifier

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