The Soviet polity is presently going through its most difficult transition ever. The Russian Center's point of view is that the crisis is an issue of imperialism: the decline and fall of the old Russian empire, the undoing of the pax Russica, the derangement of the Russian imperial consciousness. From the viewpoint of the former march-lands of the empire, the issue is nationalism. Since Mikhail Gorbachev launched his reform program under the rubric of perestroika and glasnost, the most dramatic changes taking place in the USSR have been in the area of ethnic and minority nationalism. The Soviet nationalities problem has become central to the nations of the world, as well as to all minority and national groups. The purpose of this book is to present a comprehensive analysis of the impact of nationalism on the break-up of the Soviet Union, measure the effects of this dissolution, and examine the remnants and revisions. The authors conclude that the Russian Empire is at the end of its tether, but what will remain will still be a viable world power. The second conclusion is that the so-called center of the empire will be in Russia herself, much more than in the past, and that a new form of Russian nationalism is in the making, which could have aggressive and expansionist tendencies. Policymakers, Soviet-area specialists, and students will find this book provocative and useful.

This book charts the history of the last fifty years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1867 to 1918. it reveals that the Habsburg Monarchy, though not in a healthy state before 1914, was not in fact doomed to collapse. The author examines foreign and domestic policies and reveals the weaknesses inherent in the Empire.He also shows how the Austro-Hungarian Empire attempted to satisfy the claims of eleven distinct national groups.

The Soviet polity is presently going through its most difficult transition ever. The Russian Center's point of view is that the crisis is an issue of imperialism: the decline and fall of the old Russian empire, the undoing of the pax Russica, the derangement of the Russian imperial consciousness. From the viewpoint of the former march-lands of the empire, the issue is nationalism. Since Mikhail Gorbachev launched his reform program under the rubric of perestroika and glasnost, the most dramatic changes taking place in the USSR have been in the area of ethnic and minority nationalism. The Soviet nationalities problem has become central to the nations of the world, as well as to all minority and national groups. The purpose of this book is to present a comprehensive analysis of the impact of nationalism on the break-up of the Soviet Union, measure the effects of this dissolution, and examine the remnants and revisions. The authors conclude that the Russian Empire is at the end of its tether, but what will remain will still be a viable world power. The second conclusion is that the so-called center of the empire will be in Russia herself, much more than in the past, and that a new form of Russian nationalism is in the making, which could have aggressive and expansionist tendencies. Policymakers, Soviet-area specialists, and students will find this book provocative and useful.

The essays in Nationalizing Empires challenge the dichotomy between empire and nation state that for decades has dominated historiography. The authors center their attention on nation-building in the imperial core and maintain that the nineteenth century, rather than the age of nation-states, was the age of empires and nationalism. They identify a number of instances where nation building projects in the imperial metropolis aimed at the preservation and extension of empires rather than at their dissolution or the transformation of entire empires into nation states. Such observations have until recently largely escaped theoretical reflection.

Asks whether there are lessons to be drawn for contemporary multi-ethnic societies from the experience of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in its last decades. Also asks if ideas about the state/nation relationship from that period of Austrian Social Democracy can have applicability today.

Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires is a wide-ranging comparative study of the origins of today's ethnic politics in East Central Europe, the former Russian empire and the Middle East. Centred on the First World War Era, Ethnic Nationalism highlights the roles of historical contingency and the ordeal of total war in shaping the states and institutions that supplanted the great multinational empires after 1918. It explores how the fixing of new political boundaries and the complex interplay of nationalist elites and popular forces set in motion bitter ethnic conflicts and political disputes, many of which are still with us today. Topics discussed include: * the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire * the ethnic dimension of the Russian Revolution and Soviet state building * Nationality issues in the late Ottoman empire * the origins of Arab nationalism * ethnic politics in zones of military occupation * the construction of Czechoslovak and Yugoslav identities Ethnic Nationalism is an invaluable survey of the origins of twentieth-century ethnic politics. It is essential reading for those interested in the politics of ethnicity and nationalism in modern European and Middle Eastern history.