The End of the Soviet Empire: The Triumph of the Nations

In her razor-sharp analysis, French Sovietologist d'Encausse chronicles the bloody ethnic conflicts and nationalist movements that broke up the U.S.S.R. Gorbachev's fierce Leninism, his determination to rebuild a strong, centralized Soviet state, blinded him to the full force of resurgent nationalisms, according to the author. Popular fronts emerged in every republic, becoming the nuclei of genuine political parties and nurturing a participatory civil society that challenged the U.S.S.R.'s very existence. Readers interested in the possible future of the former Soviet republics will find much insight here. Increasingly, writes d'Encausse, the new republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States view Russia with suspicion as the heir to the Soviet regime. She reviews a host of problems facing Boris Yeltsin, including the rise of a pan-Islamic movement across Central Asia, Ukraine's flexing of its military muscle and agitation by sizable ethnic populations who were forcibly displaced by Stalin. (Jan.)