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МЕЖЭТНИЧЕСКИЕ ОТНОШЕНИЯ: СУЩНОСТЬ И ОСНОВНЫЕ РАЗНОВИДНОСТИ
The article analyzes Russian academic sources and government documents with the focus on ethnic and national relations reveals their eclectic nature and the confusion in the use of terms. The article provides the authorial definition of the phenomenon “inter-ethnic relations”, the main feature of which is the awareness of cross-cultural differences. The author proceeds from the differentiation of the concepts of “nation” and “ethnos” in the scientific tradition and public administration, as they have historically developed in different models — French and German. In world science, the differences between two types of imaginary communi- ties are established: on the one hand — nations, as political communities that are associated with the idea of citizenship and popular sovereignty. And, on the other, ethnocultural communities that are defined nowadays with the help of such terms as “ethnos” or “ethaneе”, “ethnic group”, “ethnicity”. The author traces the origins and evolution of the notion “nation” in Russia from the late 18-th to Soviet time inclusive. He also produces the typologization of ethnic processes concerning two fundamental varieties: dividing (vertical and horizontal conflicts) and unifying (con- vergence, merger, dissolution). The scholar carried out the research on the material embracing Russian history of the last two centuries based on the census and statisti- cal data. The author describes key stages and specific features of assimilation pro- cesses in the world and Russia, its phases and cycles (acculturation, socialization, economic accommodation, self-identification of a full member of the host society). The paper illustrates the manifestations of dividing processes by the case of Russia and examines the sources of conflicts. The author identified three problem areas: socio-economic and socio-status inequality; changes in the ethno-demographic situation; ethno-language relations and problems. The author argues that the whole range of ethno-social and ethno-language issues in Russia is developing against the background of people’s growing interest in ethnic identity.