Eastern E urope

Abstract

This entry reviews scholarship on race, ethnicity, and nationalism in Eastern Europe. First, it examines nationalism both during and after socialism, and, in particular, its role in the dissolution of multiethnic states. Then, it proceeds to review the empirical evidence on the ethnic versus civic nationalism debate, and contrasts it to the research grounded in the alternative, constructivist and cognitive, approaches to ethnic identity. In the last part, it discusses research on race in Eastern Europe, in particular on the underprivileged group of Roma. It concludes that future research should worry less about the demarcations of civic versus ethnic nationalism. Instead, it should explore the conditions under which ethnic/national/racial identities are made salient by either those who self‐identify or those who impose labels, and specify what consequences these identification and classification processes may have for social, political, and economic inequality in Eastern Europe.

Contextualizing Anti-Immigrant Attitudes of East Europeans

“…Although immigrants were not the focus of either Kallio and Niemela's (2014) or Hilmar's (2019) studies, they are likely to fit the category of an "undeserving population" (i.e. unworthy of common economic resources), especially in a region ripe with long-term ethnic nationalism (Bandelj & Finley, 2016;Ekiert & Hanson, 2003). Moreover, these findings are consistent with analyses from other world regions concerning the ways in which individuals inflect economic issues with evaluations of moral worth and deservingness (Bandelj & Lanuza, 2018;Frye, 2012;Hilmar, 2019;Young, 2004).…”

“…Nationalism and ethnic tensions are not new to the East European region (Bandelj & Finley, 2016;Zubrzycki, 2001). Indeed, comparative research shows that ethnically oriented nationalism, which is hostile to non-natives, is stronger in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe (Ariely, 2013;Ceobanu & Escandell, 2008).…”