DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03713.v1
title: Ethnic Minorities and Political Support: An Examination of Mass Attitudes in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus, 1998
title: Version 1

description: The objective of this collection was to study the
 attachment of minorities, especially ethnic Russians outside Russia,
 to their country of residence and assess their level of support for
 its institutions and leaders. The survey posed the following
 questions: If variation in loyalty and support exist within a given
 minority, what explains the variation at the individual level? Is
 political support by ethnic minorities a rational calculation or is it
 the result of subjective, identity-related factors? Respondents were
 asked a series of questions about their perceptions of nationality,
 their attitudes toward the independence of their nation, the current
 state of their country compared with its former existence as part of
 the Soviet Union, and their financial position and future prospects,
 as well as the economic condition of their nation and the development
 of market economies. Additional questions focused on the status of
 the political system in which they resided, including trust in
 government, the development of democracy, which groups of people were
 being served by the government, feelings about personal political
 rights and the rights of the Russian-speaking population, ties with
 Russia, relations with other countries in Europe, human rights, the
 status of Russian culture, and common interests with other nations in
 the world. Respondents also provided information on their national
 language, which foreign languages children should study in school, and
 the importance of the Russian language. In addition, there were a
 variety of questions about employment, workers' rights, medical care,
 income levels, free speech, interest in politics, trust in other
 people, participation in elections, life satisfaction, feelings about
 other nationalities, preferences for interactions with other
 nationalities at work and home, and attitudes toward emigration and
 provision of gifts to government officials. Demographic items include
 employment status, earnings, citizenship, sex, country of birth, level
of education, marital status, household composition, and age.
description: Response Rates: Kyrgyzstan: 75.9 percent, Kazakhstan: 60.6 percent,
Belarus: 70.9 percent
description: The sample design and methodology varied slightly among
 the three countries surveyed in this collection. In Kazakhstan and
 Belarus a probability sample was drawn beginning with primary sampling
 units (PSU). A few of the largest cities in both nations were also
 designated as "self-representing" areas and were included
 automatically in the sample. Stratification based on characteristics
 of the population of regions in these two nations was also used to
 increase the precision of the estimates. In Kyrgyzstan it was
 necessary to pre-select several oblasts (regions) to ensure variation
 in the concentration of Russian-speaking residents in the respondent's
 locality. The specific localities, areas within localities, and
 residences were still randomly selected. In the final selection stage
 in all three nations, Russian-speaking minorities were selected by
 excluding members of the titular nationality and non-Russian-speaking
 minorities (for example, Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan who do not speak
Russian).
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Ethnic Minorities and Political Support: An Examination of Mass Attitudes in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus, 1998
description: The Russian-speaking minority population of Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. Smallest Geographic Unit: administrative region
description: The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable
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of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.