abstract: 'SINCE THE FALL OF COMMUNISM, the social impact of economic transition

  has become ever more visible. Efforts to marketise and privatise have

  redrawn class boundaries, undermined traditional job guarantees and

  eroded the old social safety net. The result is a wider gap between rich

  and poor, especially in post-Soviet states.''

  For ethnically diverse societies, as in Russia, the transition also

  implies a restructuring of the old cultural division of labour (CDL)-the

  distribution of occupations and rewards among ethnic groups. 2 The

  Soviet commitment to affirmative action policies for non-Russian regions

  and their resident minorities unraveled along with the USSR. And without

  central controls over employment and wages, education and investment,

  the federal government has far fewer levers to impose quotas or to push

  industrial and urban development into minority areas.

  Yet how the advent of the market actually plays out among the Russian

  Federation''s different nationalities is far from clear. Given the old

  CDL, with non-Russians typically concentrated in less developed ethnic

  homelands and in lower-paying sectors, the economic transition might

  well reinforce old disparities. On the other hand, dramatic devolution

  has given eponymous groups new powers to shape the local economy.

  Expanded home rule for titular nationalities could thus reward the

  in-group at the expense of local Russian residents.

  The question, then, is who bears the burden of economic dislocation and

  who benefits from new economic opportunities. Do titular groups reap a

  disproportionate share of the pain or gain under home rule? Equally

  important, how do subjective assessments of equality mesh with the

  actual distribution of burdens and benefits?

  This article explores the connections between ethnicity and economic

  transition in three republics of Russia-Tatarstan, North Ossetia and

  Sakha (Yakutia). Tatarstan and Sakha have been leaders in the quest for

  expanded republic rights, garnering some of the most dramatic

  concessions from the federal government during the period of `high

  sovereignty'' (1991-99). Both republics won control over substantial

  shares of hard currency trade in local resouices (oil in Tatarstan, and

  diamonds, gold, oil and gas, among other things, in Sakha). They have

  had the most discretion over local resources and arguably the most

  leeway of any Russian regions in allocating rewards to local

  constituents. If home rule does afford privileges for titular

  nationalities, it should do so in these two regions.

  North Ossetia, in contrast, has been far less of a pioneer on issues of

  federal relations. Lacking the resource endowments of a Tatarstan or a

  Sakha, and surrounded by conflicts in the North Caucasus, it had less to

  gain from pressing Moscow for greater autonomy. The local agenda has

  instead been dominated by disputes with neighbouring regions. And these

  have in many ways reinforced local dependence on MOSCOW.(3)

  The focus here is on the experience of economic transition among the two

  major nationalities in each region, titular and Russians, who make up

  over four-fifths of the population in each case. The following section

  addresses the dimensions of inequality in post-communist Russia, the

  likely effects on the two major ethnic groups in each republic and the

  potential impact of home rule. The article then presents empirical

  evidence on the degree of inequality in experience with economic

  transition in the late 1990s, and on individual perceptions of bias.'
affiliation: 'Bahry, D (Corresponding Author), Vanderbilt Univ, Box 1665-B, Nashville,
  TN 37235 USA.

  Vanderbilt Univ, Nashville, TN 37235 USA.'
author: Bahry, D
author-email: Donna.L.Bahry@Vanderbilt.edu
author_list:
- family: Bahry
  given: D
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1080/09668130220147001
eissn: 1465-3427
files: []
issn: 0966-8136
journal: EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES
keywords-plus: EDUCATIONAL-OPPORTUNITY; NATIONALISM; TRENDS
language: English
month: JUL
number: '5'
number-of-cited-references: '50'
pages: 673-699
papis_id: 1d319463eedda9d8ec623ca8c47c9642
ref: Bahry2002ethnicityequality
times-cited: '18'
title: 'Ethnicity and equality in post-communist economic transition: Evidence from
  Russia''s republics'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000177251400001
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '35'
volume: '54'
web-of-science-categories: Area Studies; Economics; Political Science
year: '2002'