ABSTRACT
D aghestan only recently became known in Europe or America as a result of the war in neighbouring Chechenia (now dubbed 'Chechnya' since independence was declared). It has also achieved some prominence as a
During Gorbachev's time and the few post-Soviet years the peaceful coexistence of Daghestan's multi-ethnic population has been accompanied by a limited evolution of democracy, including a circumscribed opposition. At the same time the first steps have been taken in developing an internal and exporting market economy. The Daghestan government is showing that it understands that these developments can only take place against a stable background. Such progress must be seen as happening against a series of increasingly unstable or violent incidents in other parts of the former Soviet Union which put a question mark over the long term success of mainly reactive government moves in Daghestan.
