Russian citizenship policy dilemmas

The paper investigates a puzzling evolution of the post-Soviet Russia’s citizenship policy. Over the course of the 1990s Russia’s “official ” nation – the group eligible for citizenship acquisition under simplified rules – has been dramatically re-defined in the successive editions of the citizenship law. In the 1990s, Russia defined its official nation to include all former Soviet citizens. In 2002, the official nation was dramatically re-defined to include few but those who were born on the territory of the Russian Federation. The following year the definition was broadened again. To explain these twists and turns, the paper investigates the sources of Russian citizenship policy and argues that at all times Russia citizenship policy was driven by two main factors: (1) national identity considerations, and (2) pragmatic and particularistic real-politik concerns. In the fist half of the 1990s these two factors pushed policy in the same direction and mandated an inclusive citizenship policy. By the end of the 1990s, however, these two factors began to drive citizenship policy in the opposite directions: while the prevailing understanding of the Russian nation continued to mandate inclusive citizenship policy towards the former Soviet citizens, the economic and security real-politik concerns mandated more restrictive citizenship policy. The paper argues that national identity may be losing to real-politik considerations as a source of citizenship policy – but not without a fight