ABSTRACT
Since 1991, the leaders of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan, like their counterparts in the other post-Soviet states, have sought to define identities for their countries and peoples. Their choices reflect both the continuing impact of Soviet nationality policy and the re-emergence of earlier national traditions within what are unique political and geopolitical circumstances. And their experiences, successful and not, to come up with identities that support their countries suggest three broad conclusions. First, no past identity ever completely disappears, however much some may seek to remove it. Rather, it is frequently reworked, quite often in unexpected ways and with unintended consequences. Second, the sorting out of peoples in Eurasia now, just as in Europe half a millennium ago, promotes ethno-nationalism in the short term but also tends to reduce its utility and impact over the longer term. And third, nationalism and national identity, by promoting a sense of commonality between rulers and ruled, ultimately, if often unintentionally, open the way to more participatory forms of governance, creating the possibility that having become countries, such states can ultimately become democracies.
