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Ben Fowkes, The Disintegration of the Soviet Union: A Study in the Rise and Triumph of Nationalism. New York: St Martin's Press, 1997, xii, 273 pp. + appendix, notes, bibliography, index. U.S.$45.00 (hbk).
The objective of this book is to answer why the Soviet Union collapsed and what role nationalism in the Soviet Union's 15 constituent titular republics played in this process. To answer these questions, the author focuses on "the evolution of relations between the center (Moscow) and the largely non-Russian periphery. The end result was the disintegration of the Soviet Union and establishment of fifteen new successor states" (p. vii).
The book's title is somewhat misleading, as Fowkes devotes more...