This book provides a comprehensive overview of the norms and practices of ethnic diversity management in the Russian Federation in the last twenty years. It examines the evolution of the legal framework, the institutional architecture and the policies intended to address the large number of challenges posed by Russia’s immense ethno-cultural diversity. It analyses the legal, social and political changes affecting ethno-cultural relations and the treatment of ethnic minorities, and assesses how ethnic diversity both influences and is shaped by transformations in Russian politics and society. It concludes by appraising how successful or otherwise policies have been so far, and by outlining the challenges still faced by the Russian Federation.

The management of ethnic diversity has become a topical and often controversial subject in recent times, with much debate surrounding multiculturalism as a systematic and comprehensive response for dealing with ethnic diversity. This book engages with these debates, examining the tangible outcomes of multiculturalism as a policy and philosophy in a range of traditional and 'newer' multi-ethnic nations. Exploring the questions of whether multiculturalism can promote 'ethnic harmony', employment equity and trust between various minority and non-minority groups, Managing Ethnic Diversity also adopts a comparative perspective on the experiences of multiculturalism in various international contexts, in order to examine whether lessons learned from some jurisdictions can be applied to others. With an international team of experts presenting the latest research from the UK, North America, Europe, China and Australasia, a truly global dialogue is fostered with regard to the utility and limits of multiculturalism in local and comparative contexts. As such, Managing Ethnic Diversity will appeal to social scientists interested in race and ethnicity, multiculturalism and migration.

Russia, one of the most ethno-culturally diverse countries in the world, provides a rich case study on how globalisation and associated international trends are disrupting, and causing the radical rethinking of approaches to, inter-ethnic cohesion. The book highlights the importance of television broadcasting in shaping national discourse and the place of ethno-cultural diversity within it. It argues that television’s role here has been reinforced, rather than diminished, by the rise of new media technologies. Through an analysis of a wide range of news and other television programmes, the book shows how the covert meanings of discourse on a particular issue can diverge from the overt significance attributed to it, just as the impact of that discourse may not conform with the original aims of the broadcasters. The book discusses the tension between the imperative to maintain security through centralised government and overall national cohesion that Russia shares with other European states, and the need to remain sensitive to, and to accommodate, the needs and perspectives of ethnic minorities and labour migrants. It compares the increasingly isolationist popular ethnonationalism in Russia, which harks back to "old-fashioned" values, with the similar rise of the Tea Party in the United States and the UK Independence Party in Britain. Throughout, this extremely rich, well-argued book complicates and challenges received wisdom on Russia’s recent descent into authoritarianism. It points to a regime struggling to negotiate the dilemmas it faces, given its Soviet legacy of ethnic particularism, weak civil society, large native Muslim population and overbearing, yet far from entirely effective, state control of the media.

This highly accessible book illustrates how policy makers can address and nurture the effects of growing ethnic diversity in European labor markets. The contributors present an unprecedented large-scale study on ethnic diversity in European labor markets via a combination of hard data analysis with expert evaluation of integration practices and policy options. Key questions explored include: Does ethnic diversity in European labor markets lead to poor socio-economic outcomes for some ethnic groups in the face of fierce competition for jobs and welfare? Can labor immigration and improved integration of all ethnic groups provide a solution to the challenges posed by a shrinking population, an aging workforce, skill shortages and other bottlenecks that constrain the innovative potential of the EU? What can policy makers do to nurture and encourage the benefits of ethnic diversity in the EU?

"This absorbing book is a fine contribution to the growing literature on official identification and the administrative life of the state, including its characteristic product, the paper document."--Jane Caplan, University of Oxford

Superdiversity explores processes of diversification and the complex, emergent social configurations that now supersede prior forms of diversity in societies around the world. Migration plays a key role in these processes, bringing changes not just in social, cultural, religious, and linguistic phenomena, but also in the ways that these phenomena combine with others like gender, age, and legal status. The concept of superdiversity has been adopted by scholars across the social sciences in order to address a variety of forms, modes, and outcomes of diversification. Central to this field is the relationship between social categorization and social organization, including stratification and inequality. Increasingly complex categories of social “difference” have significant impacts across scales, from entire societies to individual identities. While diversification is often met with simplifying stereotypes, threat narratives, and expressions of antagonism, superdiversity encourages a perspective on difference as comprising multiple social processes, flexible collective meanings, and overlapping personal and group identities. A superdiversity approach encourages the re-evaluation and recognition of social categories as multidimensional, unfixed, and porous as opposed to views based on hardened, one-dimensional thinking about groups. Diversification and increasing social complexity are bound to continue, if not intensify, in light of climate change. This will have profound impacts on the nature of global migration, social relations, and inequalities. Superdiversity presents a convincing case for recognizing new social formations created by changing migration patterns and calls for a re-thinking of public policy and social scientific approaches to social difference. This introduction to the multidisciplinary concept of superdiversity will be of considerable interest to students and researchers in a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Using a human rights approach, the book analyses the dynamics in the application of minority policies for the preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity in Russia. Despite Russia’s legacy of ethno-cultural and linguistic pluralism, the book argues that the Putin leadership’s overwhelming statism and promotion of Russian patriotism are inexorably leading to a reduction of Russia’s diversity. Using scores of interviews with representatives of national minorities, civil society, public officials and academics, the book highlights the reasons why Russian law and policies, as well as international standards on minority rights, are ill-equipped to withstand the centralising drive toward ever greater uniformity. While minority policies are fragmented and feeble in contemporary Russia, they are also centrally conceived, which is exacerbated by a growing democratic deficit under Putin. Crucially, in today’s Russia informal practices and networks are frequently utilised rather than formal channels in the sphere of diversity management. Informal practices, the book argues, can at times favour minorities, yet they more frequently disadvantage them and create the conditions for the co-optation of leaders of minority groups. A dilution of diversity, the book suggests, is not only resulting in the loss of Russia’s rich cultural heritage but is also impairing the peaceful coexistence of the individuals and groups that make up Russian society.