Titular nation

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The titular nation is the single dominant ethnic group in a particular state, typically after which the state was named. The term was first used by Maurice Barrès in the late 19th century.

Soviet Union[edit]

The notion was used in the Soviet Union to denote nations that give rise to titles of autonomous entities within the union: Soviet republics, autonomous republics, autonomous regions, etc., such as Byelorussian SSR for Belarusians.

For an ethnos to become a Soviet titular nation, it had to satisfy certain criteria in terms of the amount of population and compactness of its settlement. The language of a titular nation was declared an additional (after Russian) official language of the corresponding administrative unit.[citation needed]

In a number of cases, in certain highly multiethnic regions, such as North Caucasus, the notion of a titular nation introduced intrinsic inequality between titular and non-titular nations, especially since the introduction of the "korenizatsiya" politics of the 1920s, according to which representatives of a titular nation were promoted to management positions. From the 1930s, Soviet policies led to continuing Russification of Indigenous peoples in the USSR.

China[edit]

The People's Republic of China government has adopted some of the principles behind this Soviet concept in its ethnic minority policy—see Autonomous administrative divisions of China.

Yugoslavia[edit]

The federal republics of Socialist Yugoslavia were perceived as nation-states of the constitutional peoples.[1] After the breakup of Yugoslavia, only Bosnia and Herzegovina was not defined in its constitution as a nation-state of its titular nation.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Stephen Tierney (8 October 2015). Nationalism and Globalisation. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-5099-0206-4.