ABSTRACT
The principle of national self-determination has generally been thought to have been the
great solvent of empire and a weapon of the weak against the strong. But in at least one
region of the world (Eurasia) over the last century, self-determination norms have been
as easily invoked to legitimate the break-up of empires as to justify and provide a template
for Great Power imperialism and territorial expansion. Specifically, I have in mind the
numerous ways in which national self-determination has been wielded by the Soviet
Union and by post-Soviet Russia to legitimate overriding sovereignty norms, challenge
the territorial integrity of weaker states, institutionalize imperial control over minorities,
and expand Russian power and influence-despite opposition by a majority of inhabitants
of the affected areas, the conflicting self-determination claims of indigenous populations,
accompanying Russian settler colonization on a massive scale, or the opinions of the inter-
national community.
