Nationalism, Ethnic Pressures, and the Breakup of the Soviet Union

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12748010
AutoresAstrid S Tuminez (Altera (United States), autor correspondente)
Ano2003
Volume5
Fascículo4
Páginas81-136
Data de publicação2003-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Cold War Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1520-3972 • E-ISSN: 1531-3298
EditoraThe MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1162/152039703322483765
OpenAlexW2081047440
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas22
Referências citadas38

Nationalism and ethnic pressures contributed to the breakup of the Soviet Union, but they were not the primary cause. A qualified exception to this argument is Russian elite separatist nationalism, led by Boris Yeltsin, which had a direct impact on Soviet disintegration. This article provides an overview of Soviet policy vis-à-vis nationalities, discusses the surge of nationalism and ethnic pressures in the Soviet Union in 1988–1991, and shows how ethnic unrest and separatist movements weakened the Soviet state. It also emphasizes that the demise of the Soviet Union resulted mainly from three other key factors: 1) Mikhail Gorbachev's failure to establish a viable compact between center and periphery in the early years of his rule; 2) Gorbachev's general unwillingness to use decisive force to quell ethnic and nationalist challenges; and 3) the defection of a core group of Russian elites from the Soviet regime

Argument (complex analysis · Breakup · Demise · Development economics · Economic history · Economics · Elite · Ethnic group · Ethnic nationalism · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Soviet union · Unrest · History · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics · Soviet and Russian History