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Political Culture and National Symbols: Their Impact on the Belarusian Nation-Building Process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Astrid Sahm
Astrid Sahm*
Affiliation:
Mannheim Centre of European Social Research at University of Mannheim, Germany
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Extract

The new states emerging from the break-up of the Soviet Union not only had to manage the task of political and economic reforms but were also forced to develop a suitable national state ideology in order to ensure their achieved independence. The existence of a national consensus is essential for the stability of every state and society, and during periods of transition the question how national identity is defined becomes especially important. Thus, on the one hand, the dominance of a concrete national state concept may facilitate the transformation process because people are ready to bear the social costs of economic reforms in the name of state sovereignty, as was the case in Lithuania. On the other hand, a continuing Soviet cultural hegemony can also block necessary modernization in the post-Soviet period.

Type
Forum: New Directions in Belarusian Studies
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 1999 , pp. 649 - 660
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

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20. Marples, “National Consciousness in Belarus,” p. 8.Google Scholar

21. Cf. Bugrova, “Politische Kultur in Belarus,” p. 42.Google Scholar