Kyrgyzstan's 'Uneasy' Diversity after 2010: Community Analysis of Post- Conflict Policy.

The paper offers an analysis of a post-conflict policy document: 'The Concept on strengthening of the national unity and inter-ethnic relations in the Kyrgyz Republic', as a policy driven by values of multiculturalism based on international standards. The paper problematizes the relationship between the norms of multiculturalism and the politics of nationalism in Kyrgyzstan using field data collected in 2015. This paper will argue that the 'Concept' adopted by the Kyrgyzstani government is a top-down project, rather than a community-owned and community-shared project. It does not consider broad public opinion and does not enjoy public support for most of policy ideas contained in it. The paper critically studies the values behind the 'Concept', which were aimed at engendering inter-ethnic cohesion and observance of minority rights, against the political reality of interethnic relations on the ground. Informed by key literature on nationalism in post-Soviet Central Asia, the paper concludes that Kyrgyzstan's 'uneasy' management of diversity speaks more broadly to the issue of 'titular ethnicization' in post-Soviet Central Asia, and questions the applicability of the idea of multiculturalism in the post-Westphalian nationstate reality, especially in post-conflict or conflict-prone settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]