List of Plates - Acknowledgements - Map: Newly Independent States - Introduction; A.Lynch - PART ONE: THE CENTER LOSES CONTROL - A Bankrupt System: Nationalism and Personal Ambitions; A.Sheehy - The Collapse of the CPSU; E.Teague & V.Tolz - Perestroika, Radical Reform, and Soviet Economic Disintegration; J.Tedstrom - New Thinking and the Collapse of the Soviet Bloc; S.Crow - The August Coup; W.Slater - The Demise of the Soviet Armed Forces: Gateway to a New Security Order?; S.Foye - The Impact of Glasnost; V.Tolz - PART TWO: THE DYNAMICS OF SELF-DETERMINATION - Russia; A.Rahr - Ukraine; R.Solchanyk - Belarus; K.Mihalisko - The Baltic Republics-Historical Introduction; D.Bungs - Estonia; R.Kionka - Latvia; D.Bungs - Lithuania; S.Girnius - Transcaucasia; E.Fuller - Central Asia; B.Brown - Moldova; V.Socor - PART THREE: THE FIRST YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE - The Commonwealth of Independent States: An Uneven Partnership; A.Sheehy - Developments in the Emerging Post-Soviet Economy; E.Whitlock - The CIS Armed Forces in 1992; S.Foye - The First Year of Russian Independence; A.Rahr - Ukraine: A Year of Transition; R.Solchanyk - Belarus: A Year on a Treadmill; A.Lukashuk - Transcaucasia During Its First Year of Independence; E.Fuller - Central Asia: The First Year of Unexpected Statehood; B.Brown - Moldova: Facing Russian Pressure; V.Socor - Estonia: A Difficult Transition; R.Kionka - Latvia: Towards Full Independence; D.Bungs - Lithuania: Former Communists Return to Power; S.Girnius - Conclusion: Domestic Dynamics and International Consequences of the Disintegration of the Soviet Union; A.Lynch - Epilogue: The Moscow Events of September-October 1993 and the Future of Democracy in Russia; V.Tolz - DOCUMENTATION - Agreement on the Creation of a Commonwealth of Independent States - Charter of the Commonwealth of Independent States - Index

'...a highly professional, academically authoritative and well-annotated piece of work.' - Curtis Keeble, Daily Telegraph This book, by expert researchers of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute, covers the dramatic events which led to the collapse of the USSR including analysis of the difficult process of building democracy in the first year of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Using a wide range of sources in the main languages of the former USSR, specialists contribute chapters on political, military, and economic developments, while other experts trace the path to independence taken by the countries emerging from communist rule.