Review by Choice Review
This is a comprehensive examination of the states formerly part of the Soviet Union. The authors, well respected scholars of Soviet politics, divide the successor states into three categories: Russia, the western states, and the southern states. This is a logical division that is followed in eight thematic chapters, which first concentrate on domestic factors such as historical background, national and ethnic identity, religion, political culture, and economics, then focusing on foreign policy issues divided along institutional, military, and nuclear questions. The primary objective of the book is to draw attention to the domestic roots of foreign policy options in the region, both among the Eurasian states and in regard to external powers. The result is a useful survey of the basic influences and policies of the Soviet successor states. There are three useful appendixes, which provide information on chronological developments, leadership changes, and census data for 1989. A useful compendium, recommended to all libraries. J. Bielasiak; Indiana UniversityDSBloomington
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Growing out of a 1992 report for the U.S. State Department, this thorough and pragmatic study should be a useful resource for anyone grappling with an event the authors say might be ``the most important'' of the century. The authors proceed thematically, addressing history, nationalism, religion, political culture, economics, the military, foreign policy and nuclear capability in three regions of the former Soviet Union: Russia, the Europe-oriented Western states and the poorer, Islamic Central Asian states. Among the observations: because of Russia's economic weight, its reliance on rigid Western economic prescriptions influenced reform in its neighbors; civilian control of the military in each country remains weak; most of the new states lack key preconditions for a civil society. The authors contend that, to consolidate its revolution, Russia must reappropriate its historic strain of political liberalism. Appendices include a chronology of events from January 1992 through August 1993 and a compendium of leadership changes in the Eurasian states over that same period. Dawisha teaches at the University of Maryland, College Park; Parrott teaches at Johns Hopkins University. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
This is the first in a planned series of reports from the Russian Littoral Project, directed by the authors, focusing on the newly independent states in Eurasia. The project analyzes the foreign policies likely to emerge in each of the former Soviet republics (the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine in the west, and the Central Asian republics) based on the indigenous factors that pressure the governments toward one course or another. Ethnicity, religion, political culture, economics, and military and nuclear issues are all considered. Here is no mere recounting of how the USSR broke apart but a thoughtful, carefully researched discussion of what arrangements might arise from the present transition phase. Speculation is restrained and moderate, with emphasis on causes rather than on results. Academic and specialized collections will want to add this.-- Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
