Multinational States

1. Multinational States By: Branden Adams, Melani Brock, and Grace Uyeh

2. Former Soviet Union • It was the largest multinational state • The Soviet Union had 15 republics and in those republics were 15 ethnicities • This may be because people wanted independence in order to have separate places with people of the same ethnicity instead of one place with a mixture of ethnicities

3. New Baltic Nation-States • Consists of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania • Lithuania most closely fits the definition of a nation state because 81 percent of its population are ethnic Lithuanians. • In Estonia ethnic Estonians only compromise 65 percent of the population. • In Latvia, only 57 percent are ethnic Latvians • Most Estonians are Protestant, Most Lithuanians are Roman Catholics, and Latvians are predominantly Lutheran .

4. New European Nation-States • Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine are now nation states • Belarusians and Ukrainians become their own ethnicities because they separated from the Russians during the 13th and 14th centuries. The reason was that it was a consequence of the Mongolian invasion and conquests by the Poles and Lithuanians. • Russians are 2/3 of the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine. • Crimean's voted to become independent of Ukraine. • Tar Tars migrated there from Central Asia. • Russians dominate the government of the Soviet Union. • After Moldova became independent, they to make peace with the Romanians, and become an ethnic group. • The eastern boundary of Moldova is the Dniester.

5. New Central Asian Nation-States • These five states carved out of the Soviet Union display varying degrees of conformance to the principles of nation-state. • In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan the leading ethnic group is Turkmen-77% and Uzbek-80%. • Turkmen and Uzbeks are examples of ethnicities split different countries. • Kazakhstan is twice as large as the other four Central Asian countries combines. • Kazakhs are Muslims who speak Altaic Language, as well as Turkmen and Uzbeks. • Tajikistan appears to be a stable country but is going through a civil war by which 50% of the population has become homeless.

6. Russia: Now The Largest Multinational State • Russia consist of 39 nationalities, many want to be independent. Other ethnicities clustered into central Russia. • A lot of independence movements because Russia was backed off on these movements. Troublesome places for Russia are the Chechens, Sunni Muslims that speak the Caucasian language and practice distinctive social customs. • Chechnya is under the Russian control. Soviet Union separated into 15 states. • The Chechens declared independence and didn’t want to join Russia. Russia didn’t want Chechnya to gain independence. • Chechnya was important to Russia because they had petroleum.

7. Russians In Other States • Due to communist rule many ethnicities have a bitter feeling for Russians. • Russian soldiers are still in other countries because Russia cannot afford to bring them back. • Some countries fear the slow withdraw of Russian soldiers means that Russians will try to reassert their dominance. • In countries where Russians are minorities they are often discriminated against. • Russians cant get jobs unless they know the local languages. • Russians living in other countries feel like they cant move back to Russia because there is nothing waiting there for them.