CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Kondrateva, Daria |
|---|---|
| Title | The Shift in Kyrgystan's National Identity Formation: From Civic Inclusion to Kyrgyz-Centered Narratives |
| Summary | The dramatic shift in national identity discourses, which took place in Kyrgyzstan after its first Tulip revolution, provides the context for analysis of the national identity discourses popularized by the two president of Kyrgyzstan in the period of 1991-2010. The initial reason of the national identity shift remain unknown and the discourses, contributing to this shift, are widely discussed academically, journalistically, and politically. These discussions bear descriptive character, pointing to the difference between the presidents’ national identity discourses, not identifying the possible reasons of this shift. The present study provides analysis of the presidents’ national identity narratives, introduced in the political speeches, placing them in the context of Kyrgyzstan’s historical past and political present. Fundamentally, the paper argues that the shift in national identity formation was conditioned by political ambitions of the two leaders and their struggle for power in the tensely emerging parliamentary democracy. The national identity was used by the presidents as a political tool of manipulation and people’s mobilization. The argument is theoretically framed by constructivist approach to identity, nationalizing states model, and the nationalism in democratizing states argument. By employing these frameworks to explore Soviet nationalities policy, nationalizing state’s identity narratives, the two regimes’ rhetoric, and Kyrgyzstan’s democratic transition, the shift in national identity is explained. Despite the country’s multiethnic composition and the occurrence of small- and large-scale interethnic conflicts, the shift in national identity in Kyrgyzstan cannot be assumed to be a predestined occurrence. |
| Supervisor | Szabolcs Pogonyi |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/kondrateva_daria.pdf |
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