ABSTRACT

Few events have been as unforeseen as the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union into disparate political units. Some of these former union republics, such as the Baltic states, had a previous tradition of independence. The Central Asian states, by contrast, had no historical legacy of modern statehood; they were imperial artifacts. Their borders are artificial creations, and their policies reflect tribal, clan, or kin affiliations more than affinity with the nation-state.