“Pax Ethnica:
Where and
How Diversity Succeeds” by Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac
Meyer and Brysac journey to the Russian republic of Tatarstan to understand how a society populated by Sunni Muslims of Tatar origin and Russian Orthodox Christians, as well as about 70 smaller ethnicities, exists peacefully. The key was a pact with Moscow that granted substantial self-rule to Tatarstan. Russia’s then-President Boris Yeltsin told Tatarstan’s inhabitants to “take all the sovereignty you can swallow.” And they have done so while continuing their tradition of interfaith marriages.
In 1990, Tatarstan’s Supreme Soviet unanimously issued a rights-rich “Declaration of State Sovereignty” that was approved in a popular referendum. Tatarstan entered into a bilateral treaty with Russia that granted the republic some foreign-affairs powers and further solidified its autonomous character.
(PublicAffairs) - ’Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds’ by Karl E. Meyer & Sharon Blair Brysac
There remains a repressive environment for human rights and press freedom in Tatarstan, so not all is well there. Politics is dominated by a ruling elite. But the republic did not experience the fate of Chechnya, which declared independence following the collapse of the Soviet empire and then suffered defeat in a devastating war with Yeltsin’s army.
Marseille, a luckily situated seaside metropolis with mythical and historical traditions, survived France’s violent autumn of 2005 relatively unscathed. The young people of the city proudly described themselves as “Marseillais” above all other identities and joined with others to project a great sense of optimism. There are at least 27 ethnic groups in Marseille, but what distinguishes the city “is that succeeding migrant communities settled in the city’s central area, so that newcomers have long been clearly visible near administrative and political headquarters.” Europeans returning from the Algerian morass in the early 1960s tested the city’s tolerance and strengthened it for the future.
Meyer and Brysac journeyed across the East River to Queens, N.Y. The mantra “Nobody lives in Queens” is patently false, and they discovered a metropolis devoid of a city center but remarkably embracing diversity in 62 branches of the Queens Public Library, where cultural exploration is the norm. Streetwise New Yorkers find their most engaging home among the 2.3 million residents of a borough where 138 languages are spoken.
“Pax Ethnica” has one unfortunate weakness. I expected maps of the five destinations to enlighten the reader with a geographical focus. Cartography is repeatedly short-changed in contemporary books, and it deserves a revival.
Meyer and Brysac conclude with a set of guidelines for ethnically harmonious societies. My favorite is “Fear not the persistence of minority tongues.” Could someone please whisper that in the ear of politicians across this incredibly diverse land as they campaign to preserve E pluribus unum?
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