CC BY-NC
12BUILDING NATIONS AND IDENTITIES IN UNDEFINED SPACES
DOI: 10.20542/2307-1494-2022-1-137-140
Potapkina V. Nation Building in Contested States: Comparative Insights from Kosovo, Transnistria, and Northern Cyprus. (Balkan Politics and Society Series, no. 4). - Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag, 2020. 324 p.
Viktoria Potapkina's "Nation Building in Contested States: Comparative Insights from Kosovo, Transnistria, and Northern Cyprus" provides a selective comparative analysis of nationbuilding in the political phenomena known as "contested states". Referred to by a variety of different names such as "quasi states", "de facto states", "informal states", or "secessionist entities", contested states have so far received relatively little academic consideration with regard to analysis of the parallel construction of "nations" and "states" in such polities. Relying on Deon Geldenhuys' definition of "contested state"1 for her research, Potapkina analyzes the particularities of nationbuilding processes in Kosovo, Transnistria, and Northern Cyprus, providing a limited yet useful contribution to the literature on quasistate polities. The book evaluates nationbuilding in three representative contested states, taking into account relations with parent and patron states, a degree of international recognition, and institutionalization of national identity construction. Ultimately, the value of Potapkina's work lies not in its qualitative rigor or novelty of her claims, but rather in the meticulous application of primary research methods to the study of contested states.
Potapkina's book is divided into four principal sections: three chapters dedicated to the case studies of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR, or Transnistria), and the Republic of Kosovo, and one analytical chapter which applies a data-driven qualitative analysis to the research conducted in the preceding chapters. Each chapter is divided into four sub-analytical sections drawing from three of Raphael Utz's four principal factors of nationbuilding: the creation of a "usable past" (i. e., the manufacturing of a shared history of the nation), a political culture based on the usable past, and the creation of institutions and traditions.2 Building upon Utz's analytical framework, Potapkina also adds a "historical outline" section for each case study. For her analysis, she makes use of secondary and primary sources, including interviews, grade school textbooks, etc., making many of them available in translation into English for the first time. In the final analytical chapter, Potapkina compares the factors of nationbuilding in the three contested states and seeks to create a model of understanding nationbuilding in these entities.
Potapkina's analysis of the nationbuilding process in the TRNC focuses mainly on the role of Turkey as the patron state of Northern Cyprus, the relationship between the Cypriot and Turkish identities, and the relationship between community, nation and state in the polity. The development of the question of national identity in the TRNC lies in the origins of the Turkish presence on the island, dating from the arrival of the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century. Implacable tensions between Greek nationalists and Turkish Cypriots, as well as the demographic imbalance between both ethnic groups, have hindered efforts for peaceful reconciliation of the national question. Turkey, as the sole country to recognize Northern Cyprus, remains the contested state's patron. Politically, economically, and culturally, the TRNC is existentially dependent on its northern neighbor. As such, Potapkina emphasizes
the principal dilemma of the tension between state and nation in the TRNC: although Turkish Cypriots consider Turkey their nation, they consider the TRNC to simply be the state of their residence. Thus, parallel processes of Turkish and Northern Cypriot nation building occur, as seen in Northern Cypriot national expression. Nonetheless, Potapkina argues that "[...] a distinction between Turkish Cypriot and Turkish residents of the TRNC is strictly made, pointing towards a national identification linked directly to the island" (p. 82).
The second analytical chapter is devoted to an analysis of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Potapkina identifies the tri-national character of the polity (Moldovian, Ukrainian, and Russian), unique relevance of Soviet historical legacy, identity construction in opposition to Moldova, and political-economic dependence on Russia as the principal variables relating to Transnistrian nationbuilding. The author explains that, although the PMR is a deliberately multinational entity which "[...] borders Ukraine and Moldova and claims to be the cradle and protector of the true Moldovan language, culture, and nation, the clear patron here is Russia" (p. 129). Due to the lack of official recognition by any UN member-state and the continued state of frozen conflict since 1992, the position of Transnistria remains unfavorable, at least when compared to that of the TRNC and Kosovo. Identity creation in the PMR focuses on the longstanding liminality and diversity of Transnistria, its "true" Moldovan character "untainted" by Romania, its political enfranchisement under both the Tsarist and Soviet rule, and its stand against perceived Romanian chauvinism in Moldova in the late 1980s and early 1990s (pp. 104-139). Nevertheless, Potapkina attests the simultaneous process of the Russian nationbuilding alongside that of the PMR to a shared constructed historical legacy, desire for increased political integration with the Russian Federation, and the institutionalization of Russo-centric cultural affinity (p. 139). Potapkina thus focuses her analysis on the retroactive historiographical construction of a "Transnistrian" identity which must simultaneously express direct political alignment with its Russian patron.
Potapkina's final case study concerns the Republic of Kosovo, the youngest and most internationally recognized of the three contested states. As with the previous case studies examined in the book, Potapkina focuses principally on the tension between community, nation, and state in the polity. The Republic of Kosovo hosts a majority ethnically Albanian Kosovar population with a Kosovar Serb minority, with both groups contending that Kosovo is an inextricable part of their respective nations. However, the relationship to the state of Kosovo is fundamentally different for Serbs and Albanians, as Potapkina explains: "While Kosovo Serbs do not associate with the Kosovo state on any level, Kosovo Albanians see it as the state they live in, while belonging to the larger Albanian nation" (p. 186). As such, nationbuilding in Kosovo exists dually but not in parallel. However, the role of Albania, the patron state, differs from that of other patron states, since it refrains from over-involvement in Kosovo. According to Potapkina, the nationbuilding of Serbian and Albanian Kosovars is exclusive to specific areas and is "dependent on the specific population, and each has its own patron, whose nation building exists alongside the domestic one" (p. 198). State-led efforts to build a nation focus on the supra-ethnic identity of Kosovo in political opposition to Serbia. While Kosovo may have significantly more international support and recognition than Northern Cyprus or Transnistria, its process of nationbuilding is caught between domestic ethnic tensions and its aspiration for integration in the European community of nations.
Potapkina's final chapter attempts to construct a data-driven model to help understand the nature of nationbuilding in contested states in general. Specifically, she seeks to explore
a unique characteristic of the nationbuilding process in all three case studies - the parallel nationbuilding processes in the contested state and its patron state - and how this phenomenon is affected by the degree of international recognition achieved and length of existence of the contested state. To this end, Potapkina identifies three approaches to nationbuilding corresponding to a numerical score - creating an original interpretation of a nation (2), basing nationbuilding on the patron state (1), and adopting the same interpretation of nation as the patron state (0), She then applies this data-scoring system to sub-categories of nationbuilding: national flag, anthem, currency, visas, dual citizenship, transformation of cultural landscapes and public spaces, museums, representation abroad, international recognition and foreign relations, and people's access to political rights and civil liberties. However, having aggregated a score for each contested state, including five entities not chosen as case studies for the book, Potapkina does not make any substantive claims and is not able to derive any meaningful conclusions from her quantification of nationbuilding in contested states.
While "Nation Building in Contested States" is rich in the quantity and novelty of applied primary research, the book is plagued by methodological flaws that limit its academic value. On the one hand, Potapkina's analysis of the variable of nationbuilding is comprehensive and standardized, which makes it easy to make comparisons between case studies. Her extensive primary research supported by existing literature on contested states provides novel insight into the real, every-day nature of nationbuilding in these polities. Potapkina's analysis is especially useful when it comes to the less inferable realities of nationbuilding, such as the contextual physical presentation of state and national symbols (such as flags), analysis of cultural memorials and institutions, and evaluation of civil societies. On the other hand, the principal issue lies in her attempt to quantitatively model nationbuilding on the basis of her qualitative analysis. Potapkina's justification for the use of her "0, 1, 2" scoring system is weak at best: her hypothesis that nationbuilding can be properly quantified using such a system is not particularly tenable. Such a lens does not address questions of the proportionality of these variables and raises a number of unavoidable questions. Is each variable of analysis equally comparable to the other? Is each variable equally important and relevant to each contested state? Furthermore, her scoring system leaves room for improvement even if its basic premise is accepted. Due to the qualitative and subjective nature of the analyzed variables, the originality or lack thereof of elements of nationbuilding is not cut and dry. Thus, her quantifications, to a certain degree, can be disputed. Although Potapkina is able to provide a broad yet informative overview of the process of nationbuilding in contested states, this comes at the cost of methodological rigor and the ability to make any concrete claims.
Overall, the questions addressed by Potapkina in this book are challenging and reflect the underdeveloped nature of the literature on nationbuilding in contested states. In her study, Potapkina seeks to shed light on the internal development of such entities in order to understand the contemporary nature of parallel construction of state and nation. As Potapkina herself explains, "[...] it is not the territory as such that makes a state a state; it is the institutionalization of this territory, the process of turning the geographical space into territoriality" (p. 210). The understanding of territorialization of a geographical space, i. e. the process of nationbuilding, requires analysis at the intersection of many fields including political science and international relations, nationalism studies, history, sociology, and cultural studies. The plethora of novel primary research conducted by Potapkina illuminates
many of the under-researched aspects of nationbuilding as it appears on the ground, providing data which could be of use for scholars in future research. However, Potapkina refrains from making any novel or pioneering claims, and the value of her work is limited by its methodological shortcomings.
Ultimately, "Nation Building in Contested States" is valuable to both scholars of contested states and researchers or enthusiasts less familiar with the field. While the book's broad scope and inclusion of historical context are useful to those with less exposure to the phenomenon of contested states, the detailed evaluation of the specificities of nationbuilding in the TRNC, Transnistria, and Kosovo provides fresh perspective into a developing field of research.
Jan Nowak (USA) European University at Saint Petersburg ORCID: 0000-0001-9441-6733
ENDNOTES
1 Geldenhuys D. Contested States in World Politics. - Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
2 Utz R. Nations, nation-building, and cultural intervention: a social science perspective // Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law. V. 9. Eds. A. von Bogdandy, R.Wolfrum, C.E.Philipp. - Leiden: Brill/Nijhof, 2005. P. 615-647.
