ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the degree of stability both within and among the states of the former Soviet bloc and on the factors that may affect their stability and, hence, their security. The psycho-political problems are something that all inhabitants of the former Soviet bloc countries have in common, though in varying degrees. There are of course also countless numbers of Ukrainians and people from the Caucasian and Central Asian republics, as well as millions of people of ‘mixed’ origin who find themselves living in the newly-independent republics with which they have little, if any, affinity. Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were the last truly multinational and multicultural state structures on the European continent. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe governments – apparently, having learned something from the Yugoslav disaster – have reacted faster. The case of the Baltics is a good example of what timely, concerted and purposeful action can accomplish.
