New states, new politics : building the post-Soviet nations /

Unlike Bremmer and Taras's Nation and Politics in the Soviet Successor States (CH, Jul'93), which focused on the emergence of the post-Soviet successors, this volume centers on the creation of nation-states. It is divided into seven parts. The first contains one chapter introducing post-Soviet nationalities theory. The next five encompass the traditional regions: Russia, the "new" Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova), the Baltics, the Transcaucasus, and Central Asia. Each contains individual chapters about the successors that have emerged in those regions. The conclusion "advances a framework for mapping ethnic mobilization in the midst of the collapse of empire, as well as for testing its sustainability during the next stage of political development." The basic chapters are written by specialists in the country being discussed, ranging from senior scholars to graduate students. There are numerous maps and tables. The book's size will make it unsuitable as a text for most undergraduate courses, nor is it likely to be popular among general readers. It is most useful for scholars and students needing scholarly treatment of one of the individual successors. C. Barner-Barry; University of Maryland Baltimore County