ABSTRACT
Under Mikhail Gorbachevs leadership, Soviet politics in the late 1980s was transformed by the activities of thousands of newly-independent social and political organizations. Ecological issues have dominated or strongly colored local and regional politics under glasnost and perestroika. Ecological issues have served as a focal point for voluntary political participation. Economic development and ecology issues have become linked to nationalist and separatist demands in the Soviet Union. Many of the ethnic minorities are convinced that environmental ills affecting their republics are the result of Moscow's callous development policies. Soviet environmental activism during the Brezhnev period differed significantly from the pluralist process evident in American politics. Environmental degradation has stimulated political participation because it emphasizes the lack of control individuals have over their lives in the Soviet system. In the Soviet Union, nationalism and environmental issues interact at several levels; the territorial, the biological, and the psychological.
