Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State: A Tidal Approach to the Study of Nationalism (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics) - Hardcover

Beissinger, Mark R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521806704 ISBN 13: 9780521806701

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This 2002 study examines the process by which the seemingly impossible in 1987 - the disintegration of the Soviet state - became the seemingly inevitable by 1991, providing an original interpretation not only of the Soviet collapse, but also of the phenomenon of nationalism more generally. Probing the role of nationalist action as both cause and effect, Beissinger utilizes data and case studies from across the USSR during its final years to elicit the shifting relationship between pre-existing structural conditions, institutional constraints, and event-generated influences in the nationalist explosions that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Beissinger demonstrates, the 'tidal' context of nationalism - i.e., the transnational influence of one nationalism upon another - is critical to an explanation of the success and failure of particular nationalisms, why some nationalisms turn violent, and how a crescendo of events can overwhelm states, periodically evoking large-scale structural change in the character of the state system.

About this title

Review

'... a very serious analytical work, which, no doubt, will attract the attention of many political scientists, especially those studying political processes in Russia and in the post-Soviet area ... important for the understanding of nationalism as a social and political phenomenon.' e-Extreme

'... a fresh-minded intervention ... fascinating reading ...'. Nations and Nationalism

Book Description

This 2002 study examines the process by which the seemingly impossible in 1987 - the disintegration of the Soviet state - became the seemingly inevitable by 1991, providing an original interpretation not only of the Soviet collapse, but also of the phenomenon of nationalism more generally.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521806704
• ISBN 13: 9780521806701
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 522