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Recent research on separatist nationalism has focused on the most common location of new states in the international system—the postcommunist world. While providing the largest number of cases for exploration, the arguably unique features of the Soviet system may have effects that do not easily translate to other parts of the world. This article reviews a recent set of books that highlights this question, focusing on the legacies of Soviet ethnofederalism in catalyzing secession, separatist war, and nation-state crisis. These books share in common a tendency to deemphasize the historical lineages of separatist nationalism and to focus more proximately on institutions. The article builds on the discussion of recent research by engaging two separate cross-national data sets to explore the role of ethnofederal institutions and of historical legacies. It concludes by arguing for a return to historically situated studies of center-minority conflicts and for greater engagement across regional lines of expertise.

The importance of the communist movement in the Soviet Union was demonstrated once again by the international conference of communist parties held in Moscow in June, 1969. To be sure, Soviet foreign policy decisions have always been made on the basis of pragmatic calculations of state interest. Ideology, moreover, does appear to be waning as a motive force on the Soviet domestic scene. Nevertheless, the Soviet Union has maintained a deep commitment to the institutions and forms of the communist movement which go back to Lenin's time, a time which has become glorified, and grossly simplified in Soviet literature as a period of heroic victories. The convictions and institutions of this period have become hallowed: and today Moscow regards the preservation of their forms, if not their substance, as vital if further progress is to be achieved by communism in the international sphere.

Als Beitrag zur Analyse der aktuellen sozialen Probleme der UdSSR bemüht sich die Studie um eine Einschätzung der Ursachen und des Ausmaßes der Drogenproblematik (Drogenhandel, Rauschgiftsucht, Beschaffungskriminalität) in der UdSSR. Der Autor setzt sich dabei kritisch mit den offiziellen Reaktionen auf die Suchtprobleme und mit der Effektivität der eingeleiteten strafrechtlichen und sozial- bzw. gesundheitspolitischen Maßnahmen auseinander. (BIOst-Hml)

The Bolsheviks re-established the Russian Empire as a multi-ethnic empire. In the form of the Soviet Union, the empire existed until the end of the 20th century. In addition to ruthless violence during the Civil War of 1918-1921 and the Stalinist terror, the Bolsheviks developed specific instruments for integrating the nationalities. These included korenizatsiia (offering a form of positive discrimination for the non-Russian peoples) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (providing a kind of power-political framework). Contrary to the Bolsheviks' intentions and expectations, the nation-building process continued unabated. The Soviet leadership under Mikhail Gorbachev was no longer in a position to channel and integrate the demands of the peoples - not least of all the Russians - for national self-determination. Adapted from the source document.

A review essay on books by (1) Valerio Riva, Oro da Mosca: i finanziamenti sovietici al PCI dalla Rivoluzione d'Ottobre al crollo dell'URSS ([Gold from Moscow: Soviet Financing to the PCI from the October Revolution to the Fall of the USSR] Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori, 1999); & (2) Gianni Cervetti, L'oro di Mosca: la verita sui finanziamenti sovietici al PCI raccontata dal diretto protagonista; 2nd edition ([The Gold of Moscow: The Truth on Soviet Financing of the PCI Narrated by the Protagonist] Milan: Baldini & Castoldi, 1999).

First published in 1978, this unique work throws much-needed light upon the exact nature of privilege and elite life-styles in the contemporary Soviet Union, under the Communist regime. Dr Matthews' study places these life-styles in a historical perspective, and characterises, in sociological terms, the people who enjoyed them.This study is based on an extensive programme of personal interviews among emigré groups and a close analysis of original and little-known legal historical sources. There are special sections on the nature of change in the Soviet elite and on social mo.

"The collapse of communism marked the close of an era of world history. What took place in the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1991, in the eyes of its proponents, constituted a "great experiment" in the application of new modes of organization to social life, the largest such experiment in history. The Strange Death of Soviet Communism, which first appeared as a special issue of The National Interest, brings together leading scholars of Soviet history, who show why the experiment failed and how it has destroyed the laboratory of socialist utopias.Francis Fukuyama considers the role of long-term social and intellectual modernization while Vladimir Kontorovich examines the related factor of economic stagnation. Myron Rush then analyzes the accidental and precedent-breaking accession and leadership of Gorbachev. Charles Fairbanks looks at the more general factors of change and rigidity within communist political culture. Chapters by Peter Reddaway and Stephen Sestanovich conclude this section by assessing respectively the role of internal pressure from Soviet citizens and external pressure from the West. The next chapters deal with why the West was surprised by the communist collapse. This involves a critique of Western Sovietology both for its scholarly failures and its ideological prejudices. Here, Peter Rutland and William Odom deal with social science interpretations of the Soviet Union while Robert Conquest and Richard Pipes reflect on historians' readings of Soviet history. Martin Malia then offers a comparative assessment of both. In the third section Irving Kristol and Nathan Glazer discuss communism in relation to the intellectuals in the West.Although the authors are united in their anti-communist stance, the volume is diverse in its perspectives and assessments of Soviet communism. Taken together, these contributions show that the debate on the legacy of communism and a subsequent rethinking of modern history is just beginnin"--Provided by publisher.