The debate over Russia’s likely course of development under Putin has paid surprisingly little attention to his openly stated goal of reintegrating Russia with other former Soviet republics.
This region’s five republics have just lived through a remarkable first decade of independence that raises questions about “preconditions”-based theories of democratization.
A review of After the Fall: The Pursuit of Democracy in Central Europe, by Jeffery Goldfarb and Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel, by Vladimir Tismaneanu.