"A detailed history of relations between the Russian state and the Kalmyk people from the 17th century until our days, this book focuses on the Kalmyks' official accession to the Russian state; the gradual curtailment of the autonomy of the Kalmyk khanate and inclusion of its people in the centralized system of Russian state control; Kalmyk disillusionment as their internal affairs were increasingly encroached upon by the central authorities and the economic burdens imposed on them by their new "patron" kept growing; the tragic story of a part of the people setting off for their ancestral homeland, Dzungaria, in the mid-18th century, with most perishing on the way, never to reach their destination." "The book describes the changing national policies of the totalitarian state towards Kalmyks. The issues of the legal status of Kalmykia, and the development of the republic under conditions of the new Russian federal system of state government are also covered."--BOOK JACKET.

Oirat-Kalmyk are Western Mongols that since the late 14th century stand in opposition to the Eastern Mongols like Khalka, Tümed, Buryat etc. They dominated for hundreds of years the western Central Asian steppes often in a fighting competition with Khazaks, Nogai and other Turkic nomadic tribes. The Dzungar Khanat of the Oirat was destroyed by Manchu China in 1757, but the death throes for the Oirat and Kalmyk community came in the middle 20th century when the limitless steppes became divided between socialist states with closed or at least fixed borders. Different groups of the Oirat-Kalmyk today live in four different states in a diaspora that threatens their common ethnic identity. In recent years borders that had been closed for decades opened again for mutual contacts and the Oirat again are looking for a common identity across borders, an identity that focuses on a common language, script and religion. The Oirat-Kalmyk are embedded in multi-ethnic social structures in which they have developed a great deal of adaptability to the environment as much as a conception of the own identity. This book presents various topics discussed at the international conference on Oirat and Kalmyk Identity in the 20th and 21st century at the Göttingen State- and University Library. The authors investigate Oirat cultural and linguistic heritage from different perspectives such as youth culture, internet language, dances and songs, as well as history, literature, linguistics and religion. The book contributes to the latest research trends in Mongolian and Central Asian Studies and their related disciplines.

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Examines how the Putin Administration's policies toward one-fifth of its citizens that is ethnically non-Russian differs or, in some respects, resembles pre-1991 Soviet nationalities policies. Witnesses: Dr. Marjorie M. Balzer, research prof. and coordinator of Social, Ethnic, and Regional Issues, Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CERES), Georgetown Univ.; Dr. John B. Dunlop, senior fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford Univ.; Paul A. Goble, dir., Communications Dept., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator from N. Carolina; and Dr. Steven Solnick, assoc. prof. of Political Science, Columbia Univ.

In The Long Hangover, Shaun Walker provides a deeply reported, bottom-up explanation of Putin's aggressive foreign policy and his support among Russians.