question

What is true of some multinational states?

answer

-ethnicities coexist peacefully, while remaining culturally distinct. Each ethnic group recognizes and respects the distinctive traditions of other ethnicities. -one ethnicity tries to dominate another, especially if one is much more numerous than the other. The people of the less numerous ethnicity may be assimilated into the cultural characteristics of the other, sometimes by force. -in some, ethnicity all contribute to cultural features to the formation of a single nationality (US has numerous ethnic groups that all consider themselves belonging to American nationality)

question

multiethnic state

answer

-a state that contains more than one ethnicity -because no state has a population that is 100% a single ethnicity, every state in the world is to a varying degree multiethnic

question

multinational state

answer

-country that contains more than one ethnicity with traditions of self-determination -relationships among ethnicities vary ex) Soviet Union was a multinational state until its collapse in the early 1990s ex)Russia, which comprised the largest portion of the Soviety Union, is now the world's largest multinational state

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two examples of nation states

answer

Denmark and Slovenia

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population of Denmark

answer

-90% ethnic Danes -10% ethnic minorities: 2 largest groups: guest workers from Turkey and refugees from ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia

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Danes

answer

-have a strong sense of unity that derives from shared cultural characteristics and attitudes and a recorded history that extends back more than 1,000 years -almost all speak Danish (nearly all the world's speakers of Danish live in Denmark)

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What does Denmark control?

answer

two territories where few ethnic Danes live: Faeroe Islands and Greenland

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Faeroe Islands

answer

-group of 21 islands -ruled by Denmark for more than 600 years -nearly 58,000 inhabitants speak Faeroese

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Greenland

answer

-world's largest island -controlled by Denmark -12% of 58,000 residents are considered Danish -remainder are native born Greenlanders, primarily Inuit -Greenlanders control most of their own domestic affairs

question

Solvenia

answer

-was a republic within Yugoslavia that became an independent country in 1991 -Slovenes comprise 83% of the population of Slovenia, and nearly all the world's 2 million Slovenes live in Slovenia -relatively close coincidence between the boundaries of the Slovene ethnic group and the country of Slovenia has promoted the country's relative peace and stability, compared to other former Yugoslavian republics

question

What did a census in 1948 show about Slovenes?

answer

they comprised 97% of Slovenia's population; the percentage has declined steadily since then

question

Describe Slovenia when it was part of Yugoslavia.

answer

it was the most prosperous republic, and it attracted migrants from other republics... many of them remained in Slovenia after the country became independent

question

Slovenia's 90-member National Assembly

answer

reserves one seat each for Hungarian and Italian ethnic groups living in Slovenia

question

province of Italy bordering Slovenia

answer

population: about 1/5 Slovene boundary changes after WWII resulted in a number of Slovenes living in Italy and Italians living in Slovenia

question

Karl Marx

answer

wrote that nationalism was a means for the dominant social classes to maintain power over workers, and he believed that workers would identify with other working-class people instead of with an ethnicity

question

What did the breakup of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia during the 1990s do?

answer

-gave more-numerous ethnicities the opportunity to organize nation-states -the less-numerous ethnicities found themselves existing as minorities in multinational states or divided among more than one of the new states -esp. severe problems occurred in Balkans: rugged mountainous region where nation-states could not be delineated peacefully

question

What did Communist leaders in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet union use until they lost power around 1990?

answer

used centripetal forces to discourage ethnicities from expressing their cultural uniqueness: -writers and artists were pressured to conform to the "socialist realism" style which emphasized Communist economic and political values -Russian language was promoted as a centripetal device throughout the former Soviet Union: taught as the second language in other Eastern European countries -roll of organized religion was minimized

question

Why wast the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia dismantled?

answer

minority ethnicities opposed the long-standing dominance of the most numerous ones in each country (Russians in Soviet Unioin, Serbs in Yugoslavia, and Czechs in Czechoslovakia the dominants was pervasive, including economic, political, and cultural institutions. No longer content to control a province or some other local government unit, ethnicities sought to be the majority in completely independent nation-states. Republics that once constituted local government units within the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakiia generally made peaceful transitions into independent countries (as long as their boundaries corresponded well with the territory occupied with a clearly defined ethnicity)

question

What did the Soviet Union consist of?

answer

-15 republics, based on its 15 largest ethnicities -15 republics that once constitued the Soviet Union are now independent states -these 15 states consist of 5 groups

question

5 groups of former republics of Soviet Union

answer

-Three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -Three European States: Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine -Five Central Asian States: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -Three Caucasus States: Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia -Russia

question

Reasonably good examples of nation-states have been carved out of

answer

the Baltic, European, and some Central Asian states.

question

peaceful nation-states have not been created

answer

in any of the small Caucasus States

question

Russia is an especially prominent example of

answer

a state with major difficulties in keeping all its ethnicities contented

question

Baltic States

answer

-Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania -location on Baltic Sea -were independent countries between end of World War I in 1918 and 1940, when former Soviet Union annexed them under an agreement with Nazi Germany -clear cultural differences and distinct historical traditions

question

Lithuania

answer

-Of the Baltic states: most closely fits description of a nation-state because ethnic Lithuanians comprise 85% of population. -most Roman Catholic -speak a language of the Baltic group with the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family

question

Estonians

answer

-69%: ethnic Estonians -most Estonians are Protestant (Lutheran) and speak a Uralic language related to Finnish

question

Latvia

answer

-59%: ethnic Latvians -predominantly Lutheran -substantial Roman Catholic minority -speak language of Baltic group

question

To some extent, the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine now qualify as

answer

nation-states

question

Belarus

answer

81% Belarusians

question

Moldova

answer

78% Moldovans

question

Ukraine

answer

78% Ukrainians

question

ethnic distinctions between Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Russians

answer

-somewhat blurred -all speak similar East Slavic languages -all predominantly Orthodox Christians (some western Ukrainians are Roman Catholics)

question

Why did Belarusians and Ukrainians become distinct ethnicities?

answer

they were isolated form the main body of Eastern Slavs-the Russians, during the 13th and 14 centuries as a consequence of Mongolian invasians and conquests by Poles and Lithuanians

question

What did Russians do in the late 1700s?

answer

-conquered the Belarusian and Ukranian homelands

question

What happened to the three Eastern Slavic groups after five centuries of exposure to non-Slavic influences?

answer

they displayed sufficient cultural diversity to consider themselves 3 distinct ethnicities

question

Moldovans and Romanians.

answer

they are ethnically indistinguishable

question

Moldova and Romania

answer

Moldova was part of Romania until the Soviet Union seized it in 1940

question

What did Moldova do in 1992? What happened?

answer

-it changes from a Soviet republic back to an independent country -many Moldovans pushed for reunification with Romania, both to reunify the ethnic group and to improve the region's prospects for economic development

question

What happened to Moldova in 1940?

answer

-it became a Soviet Republic -its eastern boundary was the Dniester River

question

What did the Soviet government do to Moldova?

answer

it increased Moldova's size by about 10%, transferring from Ukraine a 3,000 square km (1,200 square mile) sliver of land on the east back of the Dniester

question

Inhabitans of Dniester

answer

-known as Trans-Dniestria -majority are Ukranian and Russian -oppose Moldova's reunification with Romania

question

Turkmenistan and Uzebekistan

answer

-85% Turkmen -80% Uzbek -both ethnic groups are Muslims -speak an Altaic language -conquered by Russia in 19th century

question

What are Turkmen and Uzbeks exampels of?

answer

ethnicities split into more than one country-Turkmen between Turkmenistan and Russia, and Uzbeks among Kyrgyzstan, Tajistan, and Uzbekistan

question

Kyrgystan

answer

-69% Kyrgyz: Muslims, speak Altaic language, resent Russians for seizing the best farmland when they colonized the mountainous country in the early 20th century -15% Uzbek -9% Russian

question

Kazakhstan

answer

-divided between Kazakhs (67%) and Russians (18%) -tensions exist, but Kazakhstan has been peaceful, in part because it has a somewhat less depressed economy than its neighbors

question

Kazakhs

answer

-Muslims -speak an Altaic language similar to Turkish

question

Russians

answer

-Orthodox Christians -speak Indo-European language

question

Tajikstan

answer

-80% Tajik -15% Uzbek -1% Russian -civil war between Tajik people and an unusual alliance of Muslim fundamentalists and Western-oriented intellectuals -15% of population has been made homeless because of the fighting

question

Tajik

answer

-Muslims -speak language in the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European language -former Communists

question

Where do multinational states face challenges?

answer

in maintaining unity and avoiding fragmentation as discontented ethnicities seek to break away and form new nation-states

question

What does Russia officially recognize?

answer

the existence of 39 ethnic groups as nationalities, many of which are eager for independence

question

Russia's ethnicities

answer

-20% non-Russian are clustered in 2 main locations: -borders with neighboring states (a)Buryats and Tuvinian near Mongolia (b)Chechens, Dagestani, Kabardins, and Ossetians near the two former Soviet Republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia -center of Russia (esp between Volga River basin and Ural Mountains)

question

Center of Russia

answer

-Bashkirs, Chuvash, Tatars: speak Altaic languages similar to Turkish -Mordvins and Udmurts: speak Uralic languages similar to Finnish -most of these groups were conquered by the Russians in the 16th century under the leadership of Ivan IV

question

Why are independence movements flourishing?

answer

Russia is less willing to suppress these movements forcibly than the Soviet Union onces was

question

Chechens

answer

-very troublesome for Russians -Sunni Muslims -speak a Caucasian language -practice distinctive social customs

question

Chechnya

answer

-brought under Russian control in 19th century only after a 50 year fight

question

What happened to Chechnya when the Soviet Union broke up into 15 independent states in 1991?

answer

-Chechens declares their independence and refused to join the newly created country of Russia -Russian leaders ignored the declaration of independence for 3 years but then sent in a Russian army in an attempt to regain the territory

question

What did Russia fight hard for?

answer

to prevent Chechnya from gaining independence because it feared that other ethnicities would follow suit

question

Why was Chechnya important to Russia?

answer

-the region contained deposits of petroleym -Russia viewed political stability in the area as essential for promoting economic development and investment by foreign petroleum companies

question

Where is the Caucasus region located?

answer

between the Black and Caspian sease

question

What is the Caucasus region home to?

answer

several ethnicities -Azeris -Armenians -Georgians -Abkhazians -Chechens -Ingush -Ossetians -Kurds -Russians

question

What happened when the entire Caucasus region was part of the Soviet Union?

answer

The Soviet government promoted allegiance to communism and the Soviet state and quelled disputes among ethnicities, by force if necessary

question

What happened with the breakup of the Caucasus region into several independent countries?

answer

-conflicts among ethnicities have erupted into armed conflicts -each ethnicity has a long-standing and complex set of grievances against others in the region

question

From a political perspective, what is true of every ethnicity in the Caucasus?

answer

-they have the same aspiration; to carve out a sovereign nation-state -the ethnicities have varying degrees of success in achieving this objective, but none have fully achieved it

question

Azeris (Azerbaijans)

answer

-trace roots to Turkish invaders who migrated from Central Asia in the 8th and 9th centuries and merged with the existing Persian population

question

What did an 1828 treaty do for the Azeris?

answer

-allocated northern Azeri territory to Russia and southern Azeri territory to Persia (now Iran) -1923: Russian portion became the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union

question

What happened to Azerbaijan with the Soviet Union's breakup in 1991?

answer

it again became an independent country

question

western part of Azerbaijan

answer

-Nakhichevan -separated from rest of Azerbaijan by a 25 mile corridor that belongs to Armenia

question

Azerbaijan

answer

-more than 7 million Azeris (91%)

question

Where are another 16 million Azeris found?

answer

-northwestern Iran (24%) -they hold positions of responsibility in Iran's government and economy, but Iran restricts teaching of the Azeri language

question

When was Armenia converted to Christianity?

answer

-303 -lived for many centuries as an isolated Christian enclave under the rule of Turkish Muslims

question

What happened to Armenians during the late 19th and 20th centuries?

answer

-hundreds of thousands were killed in a series of massacres organized by the Turks -others were forced to migrate to Russsia

question

Russia and Armenia

answer

Russia gained possession of eastern Armenia in 1828

question

Armenia

answer

-created as an independent state by the Allies after WWI - 98% Armenians

question

Turkey and the Soviet Union

answer

1921: agreed to divide Armenia between them -1991 Soviet portion became an independent country

question

What is the most ethnically homogenous country in the Caucasus region?

answer

Armenia (Armenians comprise 98% of the population)

question

Armenians and Azeris

answer

-after their independence from the Soviet Union, they went to war over the boundaries between them -the war concerned possession of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave within Azerbaijan that's primarily inhabited by Armenians but placed under Azerbaijan's control by the Soviet Union during the 1920s -1994 cease fire left Nagorno-Karabakh technically part of Azerbaijan, but in reality it acts as an independent republic called Artsakh

question

Georgia

answer

-71% ethnic Georgians -8% Armenian -6% Azeri -6% Russian -3% Ossetian -2% Abkhazian -2% Greek -2% other

question

Ossetians and Abkhazians

answer

-during 1990s: Abkhazians fought for control of northwestern portion of Georgia, and have declared Abkhazia to be an independent state

question

Ossetians and Georgians

answer

-2008: fought in a war that resulted in the Ossetians declaring the South Ossetia portion of Georgia to be independent

question

Russia and Abkhazia and South Ossetia

answer

-Russia has recognized them as independent countries and has sent troops there -only a few other countries recognize their independence, although the two operate as if they were independent of Georgia

question

colony

answer

-a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent -in some cases, a sovereign state runs only the colony's military and foreign policy -in others, it also controls the colony's internal affairs

question

colonialism

answer

an effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on the territory

question

What reasons have European states established colonies?

answer

-promote Christianity -extract useful resources and to serve as captive markets for their products -establish relative power through the number of their colonies (God, gold, glory)

question

When did the colonial era begin?

answer

1400s: when European explorers sailed westward for Asia but encountered and settled in the Western Hemisphere instead

question

What eventually happened to most of European states' Western Hemisphere colonies?

answer

they lost them -US declared independence in 1776 -most Latin American states declared independence between 1800 and 1824

question

United Kingdom and colonization

answer

-planted colonies on every continent -eastern and southern Africa, South Asia, Middle East, Australia, Canada -with by far the largest colonial empire, the Britishh proclaimed that the "Sun never set" on their empire

question

France

answer

-second largest overseas territory -West Africa and Southeast Asia -attempted to assimilate its colonies into French culture and educate an elite group to provide local administrative leadership -after independence, most of these leaders retained close ties with France

question

When did most African and Asian colonies become independent?

answer

after WWII

question

How many African and Asian states were members of the UN when it was established in 1945?

answer

15

question

How many African and Asian states were members of the UN in 2012?

answer

106

question

What do the boundaries of the new African and Asian sates frequently coincide with?

answer

the former colonial provinces

question

How many places does the U.S. Department of States list that it calls dependencies and areas of special sovereignty?

answer

68; 43 with indigenous populations and 25 with no permanent population

question

What are most current colonies?

answer

islands in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea

question

What is the most populous colony?

answer

Puerto Rico; a commonwealth of the United States -4 million residents

question

What are Puerto Ricans?

answer

citizens of the United States but they don't participate in U.S. elections or have a voting member in Congress

question

one of the world's least populated colonies

answer

Pitcairn Island -18 square mile possession of the UK

question

When was Pitcairn Island settled? By who?

answer

1790 by British mutineers form the ship Bounty, commanded by Captain William Bligh

question

What is the population of Pitcairn Island? How do they survive?

answer

48 islanders survive by selling fish as well as postage stamps to collectors

question

What places are generally considered colonies but are not listed as such by the U.S. State Deparment?

answer

-Australia's Lord Howe Island -Britain's Ascension Island -Chile's Easter Island

question

U.S. State Department states Greenland is a colony

answer

-high degree of autonomy and self-rule -makes foreign policy decisions independently of Denmark -ruled by Queen of Denmark

question

U.S. State Department states Hong Kong and Macao is a colony

answer

-attached to mainland of China -were colonies of the UK and Portugal, respectively -1997: British returned Hong Hong to China -1999: Portuguese returned Macao to China -these two ares are classified as special administrative regions with autonomy from the rest of China in economic matters but not in foreign and military affairs

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