ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses diversity as a normal, accepted, and, for centuries, unexamined condition in Eurasian empires. Its focus is on Russia, an empire that took shape in the aftermath of the Mongol conquest. The resource environment, spatial dimensions, and political history of this terrain made effective inclusion of unlike peoples essential to any large-scale political project. The requirement of ruling multiple unlike populations has shaped the configuration of imperial Russia, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The chapter first traces the long-term history of the politics of diversity in Russia, arguing that the management of multiple peoples was a resilient component of Russian governance. As the “fact” of diversity came under scrutiny in Soviet and post-Soviet times, intellectuals and political figures developed theories that emphasized Russia’s Eurasian roots. These theorists directly addressed connections between empire and diversity, arguing that Eurasian, multiethnic politics constituted a bulwark against European imperialism and “western” universalism as well as an essential foundation for Russia’s future as a great power.
