O etnopolityce państw współczesnej Europy Wschodniej - niejednorodne etnicznie i kulturowo

This article aims to deepen the analysis of the status of ethnopolitics in Eastern European countries - Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine and Moldova. In the first part of the discussion the author explores the concept of "ethnopolitics", indicating that it pertains to the relationship between ethnicity and politics. Showing the main objectivesof ethnic policy she states that they can be classified into two groups: 1) concerning inter-ethnic relations; 2) targeted to specific entities (ethnic groups and the state in which they reside). Later in the article the author examines the ethno policy in the region, in practice, revealing its conditions and determinants at an intra-state and international level. It indicates the current balance of ethnic policies of selected countries in the region, the potential development of these policies. In the final part of the study she notes that in the discussions on the role of ethnopolitics in the countries and in the regions, there are voices that ethnic policy in Eastern Europe is an extremely important element of the basic functions of the states and the region, including the central phenomenon of the construction, reconstruction and strengthening of national identity. What is particularly important, ethnopolitics, understood in terms of public policy addressed to national and ethnic minorities living in the country, it is an important backbone of domestic and foreign policy, and the political and cultural identity of all ethnically and culturally heterogeneous countries of Eastern Europe.