Description
My presentation aims to conceptualize Azerbaijani multiculturalism as a political, sociological, historical as well as public policy debate in academic literature. Afterwards, it aims to map Azerbaijani version of Multiculturalism within this multiculturalism debate in comparison and contrast with different time and space. It will particularly be interdisciplinary research, as the theoretical part will be conducted within the discipline of Political and Social Theories whereas case study will include the insights from Contemporary History, Comparative Politics and Public Policy. Finally, the research on this particular case study is expected to unravel the historical and contemporary political influences on Azerbaijani state’s introduction of multiculturalism as a policy, as well as effectiveness and authenticity of this policy on minorities and majority of the country alike. At last, I will use the collected data to design a better targeted multicultural policy which would be more consistent with the case of Azerbaijan.
More about my hypothesis on varying implications on Azerbaijani version of multiculturalism, there have been three versions of multiculturalism over the past centuries that had interplay of an effect over the current Azerbaijani political discourse along with its relevant policies. One of them is the historical example of multiculturalism which was practiced in multi-ethnic\religious imperial states such as the Ottoman Empire, Safavid Empire and Muslim Spain as a relatively effective policy. However, this version of multiculturalism lacked regard for individual autonomy and liberal-democratic rights of its own subject groups for it was a communitarian form of multiculturalism. As it happens, Azerbaijan is an example that combines historical features of multi-ethnic\multi-religious co-presence which is communitarian and its discourse\policies entails the characteristics of pre-nation-state multiculturalism to be found in those of imperial states. Another influence on Azerbaijani multiculturalism dates back to the early Soviet Union where the influence of early Soviet policies of multinationalism - Leninist nationality policies of titular and non-titular division –entered to the stage of Azerbaijani minority policies\discourse. This division is still persistent in contemporary Azerbaijan which adds the post-socialist legacy to the case. Last influence on Azerbaijani multiculturalism is the contemporary features of multiculturalism which is grounded on individual autonomy and liberalism. Despite Azerbaijan is a consolidated authoritarian regime and it does not share any of the values coterminous with western liberal-democratic traditions, the discourse of multiculturalism entered to Azerbaijani politics from liberal-democratic context. Therefore, Azerbaijani ruling establishment employs liberal-democratic language in its discourse along with corresponding policies while referring to Azerbaijani multiculturalism.
To conclude, it is an original case for the fact that Azerbaijan is a consolidated authoritarian regime - despite being fairly integrated to the liberal-democratic institutions (i.g. membership to OSCE, Council of Europe along with participation in EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative). In line with authoritarian and illiberal policies, cultural conservatism is still referred to as the backbone of the country’s social fabric and communal integrity in Azerbaijan. Therefore, this study will contribute to the existing research on multicultural identity-politics with conceptualization of communitarian, conservative\non-liberal and non-democratic model of multiculturalism.
