De-Russianisation of the western post-Soviet space: Between the thick and thin nationalising processes

This paper highlights contextual impacts of the de-Russianisation process in the western post-Soviet space formed by three restored and three new nation-states. The demographic trends indicate that in the territorial configuration of this geopolitical zone of Europe the numbers of Russians are decreasing. The key question considered in this paper is whether the de-Russianisation and ethno-political mobilisation processes of the Russophone population contribute to stabilisation or destabilisation of the multi-ethnic societies and their given nation-states.

This analysis considers whether articulations of ethno-political interests of Russophone populations sustain the multi-ethnic state consolidation processes based upon civic political nation conceptions or whether Russian ethnicity-based parties complicate necessary nation-state consolidation processes. The specified de-Russianisation tendencies are evolving in the geopolitical zone between the European Union and the Russian Federation and create a differentiated context of changing political, geo-cultural and geo-economic relationships that are developing since the breakdown of the USSR.