Projektbeschreibung
Minderheitenrechte im Russischen Reich und in der UdSSR beleuchten
Im Russischen Reich und in der Sowjetunion beriefen sich die politischen und kulturellen Eliten auf „Legalität“ und „Gerechtigkeit“. In der vorhandenen Literatur wurden diese Begriffe im Zusammenhang mit der staatlichen Politik und der intellektuellen Opposition untersucht. Es ist jedoch kaum bekannt, welche Rolle sie für die Minderheiten spielten. Es gibt zwar offensichtliche Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Zeiträumen, aber auch wesentliche Ähnlichkeiten. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt JUSTIMINO wird erforschen, wie sich Minderheiten von den „Großen Reformen“ des Russischen Reiches in den 1860er Jahren bis zur Auflösung der UdSSR im Jahr 1991 routinemäßig auf „Legalität“ und „Gerechtigkeit“ beriefen, um ihre Rechte zu wahren. Das Projekt geht von der Hypothese aus, dass die Systeme für sie vorsahen, an den politischen und kulturellen Eliten teilzuhaben.
Ziel
The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union are rarely associated with the ‘rule of law’. And yet, the notions of ‘legality’ and ‘justice’ greatly mattered in both: political and cultural elites invoked them as much as the wider citizenries. While existing literature has addressed ‘legality’ and ‘justice’ in studies of state policy and intellectual opposition to the two orders, there is little recognition of how instrumental they both were to ethnic and religious minorities. Whereas religion was one of the key determinants of rights, privileges, and obligations in the empire, ‘nationality’, understood in ethnic terms, replaced religious affiliation in this capacity under socialism. Being part of a minority could mean open or subtle forms of discrimination. Yet, such discrimination was neither automatic nor did it go unchallenged. This project therefore explores the ways in which minorities, from the Russian Empire’s ‘Great Reforms’ of the 1860s to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, routinely invoked and employed ‘legality’ and ‘justice’ to enforce their rights. It argues that the systems allowed, even encouraged, them to do so. What is more, minorities were also represented among the political and cultural elites, from imperial lawyers to Soviet party officials. What did minority actors expect when they called on ‘justice’ and ‘legality’? More importantly, how and to which degree did this strategy help them defend their rights in two highly authoritarian states? While there are obvious differences between the imperial and Soviet periods in this regard, there are also substantial similarities. To track these, the project proposes an ambitious multi-sited enquiry, combining an analysis of published sources with extensive work in regional and central archives, and oral history. This ground-breaking research will also create an online database on minority legal action that will be debated with NGOs and wider society in a variety of innovative knowledge transfer formats.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Programm/Programme
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedGastgebende Einrichtung
10117 Berlin
Deutschland