Why ethnic homogeneity is dangerous

Boris Kagarlitsky

The Moscow Times (Russia)

A lack of ethnic diversity means that Georgians are more nationalistic than Russians, said Boris Kagarlitsky. Most Georgians support keeping the province of South Ossetia part of their territory, just as most Russians want to keep the province of Chechnya part of Russian territory. The difference is that, during the Chechen war, there were plenty of dissenting voices in the Russian media criticizing the military, the government, and the whole idea of war. But during the Ossetian conflict last month, you couldn’t find a single Georgian voice opposing the government. That is because Georgia is “a small state dominated by a single ethnic group.” When such a state starts to whip up nationalistic sentiment, there’s no stopping it. You see the same thing in ethnically pure Armenia, where there is no sympathy for the Turks, while in diverse Turkey, plenty of dissidents “risk their freedom” to argue the Armenian view. Ethnically diverse Israel sees many of its young people refuse military service, while homogeneous Palestine has few dissenters. Russia is one of the most diverse countries in the world. It’s no surprise, then, that “in Russia, dissenting voices can always be heard, even when patriotic fervor reaches unprecedented levels.”

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