This volume analyses the developments in Soviet Union in the years 1989-1990, examining the full range of political, economic, social, and ethnic changes of these two tumultuous years. Additional chapters focus on the Soviet Union's foreign relations and key developments abroad as well as at home.

Due to the pace of change in the USSR, monographs and textbooks in the field are quickly becoming dated. This book is the inaugural edition of a series that seeks to fill that void by presenting a biannual, systematic summary and analysis of developments in Soviet affairs. In this first volume, noted experts cover the years 1989-1990, examining the full range of political, economic, social, and ethnic changes of these two tumultuous years. Additional chapters focus on the Soviet Union's foreign relations and key developments abroad as well as at home. Scholars and students as well as general readers will find this series to be of great value as a means of staying current in an era of constant change.

Nearly ten years of bloodshed and political turmoil have followed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Soviet occupation not only proved a major trauma for the people of Afghanistan; invasion ended the growth in superpower dentents that had characterised the late 1970s; and in the Soviet Union the effects of escalating military costs and over 13,000 young military casualties have been felt at every level of society. The decision to withdraw combat forces under the provisions of the Geneva Accords of April 1988 is one of the most dramatic developments in the international system since the end of the Second World War. The effects of this decision will be felt not only in Afghanistan, but in the Soviet Union, in Southwest Asia, and in the wider world. The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan has been designed to explore the background to the decision to withdraw and its broader implications. The authors, all established specialists, examine the Geneva Accords; the future for post-withdrawal Afghanistan; and the impact of withdrawal on regional states, Soviet foreign and domestic policies, the Soviet armed forces, Sino-Soviet relations and world politics. They write from diverse disciplinary traditions, while bringing together a shared sensitivity to the issues which complicate the Afghan question.

This 2002 study examines the process of the disintegration of the Soviet state.

A cultural history of a people split in two by the forces of imperialism, this study examines the long-standing Russian-Iranian division of the land west of the Caspian Sea. The author explores the diplomatic history of Azerbaijan and the strength of ethnic identity which remains.

Russia and a few other Eurasian countries have been home to the fastest growing epidemics of HIV in the world over the last several years. This volume offers country-specific accounts, authored by the leading players in the analysis of the situation and the fight against the virus.