ABSTRACT

First Published in 1997. This book is the ninth in a series often volumes produced by the Russian Littoral Project, The project shares the conviction that the transformation of the former Soviet republics into independent states demands systematic analysis of the determinants of the domestic and foreign policies of the new countries. The series of volumes is intended to provide a basis for comprehensive scholarly study of these issues. This volume was shaped by the author’s view that future scholarship about the post Soviet world requires both specialized research and broad-gauge studies that carefully juxtapose the breakup of the Soviet empire with the transformation of other multinational empires.

part I|62 pages

Theoretical Perspectives on the Forms and Development of Empires

part II|92 pages

Imperial Disintegration

chapter 3|29 pages

The Fall of the Tsarist Empire and the USSR

The Russian Question and Imperial Overextension

chapter 4|27 pages

The Disintegration of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires

A Comparative Analysis

chapter 5|34 pages

Decolonization

Britain, France, and the Cold War

part III|86 pages

Peripheral Successor States and the Legacies of Empire

chapter 6|29 pages

State Building in the Shadow of an Empire-State

The Soviet Legacy in Post-Soviet Politics

chapter 8|20 pages

Peripheral Successor States and the Legacy of Empire

Succeeding the British and French Empires in Africa

chapter 9|23 pages

The Imperial Culture of North-South Relations

The Case of Islam and the West

part IV|72 pages

Metropolitan Successor States and the Question of Imperial Reconstitution

chapter 11|25 pages

Between the Second and Third Reichs

The Weimar Republic as “Imperial Interregnum”

chapter 12|27 pages

Empires, Neo-Empires, and Political Change

The British and French Experience

part V|49 pages

Changing Forms and Prospects of Empire