Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the meaning of minority and cultural rights, and also a brief outline of current debates on diversity, internationally and in Russia. While one might set aside the populist rhetoric of Putin's pronouncements, in order to understand Russia's response to the challenges created by its diversity one needs to examine the historical trajectory of its nationalities policy. Elaborate and far-reaching policies for diversity management were introduced during the Soviet period. Two aspects of these policies are particularly relevant: the institutionalisation of nationhood, accompanied by an essentialist conceptualisation of ethnicity; and a top-down form of diversity management. In addition, while theories explaining human behaviour through biology rather than through socio-economic factors effectively clashed with Soviet ideology, with the end of the Soviet Union the public discourse on class struggle was effectively replaced by one on ethno-national tensions.