ESSAYS AND STUDIES
CREATING STATE IDENTITY OF NOVORUSSIYA
Abstract
This paper deals with the case of revival and instrumentalization
of the territory of Novorussiya, originally a historical region at the
southwestern border of the former Russian Empire. The process of
creating Novorussiya’s state identity is still carried out, hence the
aim of this research is the analysis of that phenomenon. Nowadays
Novorussiya is no longer just an alliance of two self-proclaimed
republics at Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the eastern part of Ukraine,
but the idea of returning to the “general Russian principles” through the
renewal of the Russian language, culture, moral values and the alliance
of the Eurasian people. This process is based upon the concept of the
neo-Eurasianism as geopolitical and historically founded idea of the
reintegration of the post-Soviet and Russian imperial space. Cultural
backround for this project is the Russian concept of multiculturalism,
i.e. the “Russian World” (Russian: Русский мир). This concept is based
upon the Russian language, the Cyrillic alphabet and the coexistence of
different ethnic groups. The notions of Novorussiya, Little Russia, Great
Russia, and Ukraine were also explained from a historical perspective,
while Pridnestrovye (Transnistria) has been analyzed as a precursor
to the socio-political model of Novorussiya. This model encompasses
multi-ethnicity, separation from the previous nation-state, pro-Russian
position as well as economic and cultural self-sufficiency. The usage
of the news sources and literature about geopolitical situation in the
world indicates that the creation of Novorossiya’s state identity fits the
principles of multi-ethnic and multi-polar world. As the civil war in
Imperial Russia erased the notion of Novorossiya from the historical
stage, so the civil war in Ukraine brought the same notion back. Hence,
this study may provide a new impetus for future research that will direct
its attention to the current social and cultural processes in Eurasia.
References
