Russia and the New States of Eurasia: The Politics of Upheaval

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.)