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Stabilization and symbolism: language and regional politics in the Chuvash Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Kyle L. Marquardt
Kyle L. Marquardt*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA
*
*Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The government of the Chuvash Republic, an ethno-federal region of the Russian Federation, used a targeted and symbolic language policy in an attempt to stabilize the position of the republic's titular language while avoiding conflict with local Russophones and the Russian federal government. The resulting policy allowed the republic's government to frame the existence of an autonomous Chuvash republic – as well as the local elite's form of governance – as being essential to the preservation of the Chuvash language and thus the Chuvash people. In this way, it used language politics to strengthen its position vis-à-vis both local constituents and the Russian federal government. However, the limited nature of the government's program has made its gains tenuous in the face of continuing Russian political and cultural recentralization.

Keywords

language politicsethnic politicsChuvashiafederalismRussia
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 127 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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