Nationalism and political outcomes: From singing revolution to ethnic exclusion

How does nationalism affect revolutionary outcomes in ethnically heterogeneous states? Can political elites use nationalism to advance political goals? I focus on individual nationalist actions and argue that the actions we observe in nationalist movements are intentional and motivated by elite-led strategic action, identity salience, and structural changes.;Individual actors in nationalist movements receive a spectrum of diffuse information from a variety of sources, but they also process direct appeals to their sense of national identity from political entrepreneurs and elites that help to frame nationalist action. Political elites utilize cultural and political symbols drawn from existing cultural repertoires as powerful, concise, emotionally-charged information-bearing vehicles. By focusing on the informational components that affect nationalist action, this theory allows us to explain rapid changes in nationalist action, something that existing models of nationalism cannot do.;Using empirical evidence gathered from fieldwork in the Baltic states, I explore the changing nature of nationalism over time in Latvia, from the late Soviet period to post-independence. I show that Latvian nationalism--- i.e., ethnic Latvian beliefs about who should be a member of independent Latvia---changed greatly in a short period of time; at first ethnic Russians were welcome, and then they were excluded. I explain this shift within the context of the theory that I present. I then place Latvia in comparative perspective with Estonia, Lithuania, and the former Czechoslovak and Yugoslav republics.