William D. Shingleton, "Book Review: Russians in the Former Soviet Republics," Demokratizatsiya
Winter 1999
Russians in the Former Soviet Republics, Paul Kolstoe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. 348 pp. $37.50 cloth.
From providing fodder for Russian nationalists to providing a pretext for Russian saber-rattling, the fate of the Russian diaspora is an integral part of Russian politics and policy. Understanding the evolution of the diaspora issue in the republics and in Russia itself is critical to understanding the nationalities problem in the former Soviet Union. Russians in the Former Soviet Republics by Paul Kolstoe will undoubtedly serve as a gold standard in this regard for some time to come.
Paul Kolstoe of the University of Oslo has put together a cohesive study of the disperate problems of the diaspora Russian population. The book begins with a history of Russian migration and a synopsis of theoretical work done on migration and nationality issues. Although Kolstoe deftly crafts a readable section on these topics, his real strength lies in his region-by-region analysis of the fate of the estimated 25 million Russians left outside the motherland by the collapse.
Kolstoe takes us on a tour of the Baltics, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus before addressing Russian policy toward the diaspora. In dealing with each of these regions, he combines local press accounts, foreign scholarship, and his personal observations to create a total and evenhanded account of the situation for this group of Russians. Kolstoe uses two main indicators to analyze the fate of the Russian populations - language and citizenship policy. Language policy is the state of the Russian language in the republics; citizenship policy is the process by which the former republics determine who can be an original citizen. Kolstoe carefully addresses the various points of view regarding both issues without passing unnecessary judgement.
The only real weakness in Kolstoe's work is in his discussions of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Kolstoe admits the limits of both his own personal experience and available press information on these areas. However, the same limitations apply to other scholarship on the region and should not be considered a drawback to this work. Indeed, given the limited resources available, Kolstoe has done an admirable job of assessing the situation in the southern tier of republics.
Because of the diverse nature of interethnic relations in the former Soviet Union, it is difficult to draw a single general conclusion. Admirably, Kolstoe resists the temptation to draw such a conclusion. Nor does Kolstoe indicate which way he believes the republics will go in dealing with the diaspora Russians; instead he opts to spell out the consequences of various potential turns of events.
In sum, Paul Kolstoe has compiled a superb analysis of the fate of the diaspora Russians since the Soviet collapse. While it seems odd that a 1995 publication should have relevance in the ever-changing former Soviet Union, Kolstoe's scholarship and analysis transcend the intervening years to provide a relevant background to the ethnic problems of today's republics.