How are regional movements for greater sovereignty related to objective economic conditions? The findings in Chapter 1 suggested that the relationship is not simply reflective; that is, Russian regions with comparable economic conditions did not have similar levels of activism toward greater sovereignty. And, analysis of specific cases shows that many regional movements for greater sovereignty were motivated by economic demands. We therefore face the question of how similar economic conditions could produce different economic interests.

In this chapter, I outline and support the case for an imagined economies framework through a three-part analysis of the role of economic factors in the nationalism literature, by discussing in turn objectivist approaches to the economy, orthodox critiques of objectivism, and heterodox constructivist approaches to the economy. In the analysis of these approaches to the economy, I discuss economic-based theories of nationalism consistent with each approach. In the end, I combine insights from constructivist political economy – cognitive science, economic sociology, historical institutionalism, and social theory – to arrive at the imagined economies framework, which I argue productively expands the nationalism literature.

Objectivism

An analysis of objectivism begins with a particular model of cognition because cognition addresses the issue of how human beings, including economic actors, understand their surroundings. The classic view of cognition is of rule-based manipulation of symbols. In this view, thought is abstract and unconnected to the particularity of bodies, minds, or souls.