78

Despite the cultural, social and economic diversity of the population groups making up the Russian empire, ethnic criteria generally did not play any role in the administrative division of the territory. After October 1917, the Bolsheviks chose the concept of a multi-ethnic state over a nation-state. A multi-ethnic state - or, more specifically, a federation based on ethnic criteria - was derived from the principle of national self-determination. As a result of this political choice, ethnicity has become a central concept of the system of social representation as well as a key instrument in population management.