ABSTRACT
The fall of communism overshadowed perhaps an even more epoch-making event, the disintegration of a geopolitical unit that had lasted some 500 years, and in comparison with which the reign of communism had been a mere interregnum. The whole geopolitical and strategic balance not only of the post-Second World War era but of the whole epoch since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 came to an end. Russia’s long climb from local, regional, continental and then to global power was suddenly dramatically reversed. The dissolution of communism ended one set of problems associated with global confrontation in the Cold War, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union raised no less epochal issues. Would the inherent instability of Russo-European relations for the last 400 years give way to a new partnership? Would the new Russia be able to define a post-imperial and postcommunist national identity and integrate into global economic and political processes? What sort of ‘normality’ was normal for Russia?
