VITALY V. NAUMKIN is President of the Russian Center for Strategic Research and International Studies in Moscow.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Historical Origins of Interethnic Conflicts in Central Asia and Transcaucasia by Victor Porchomovsky Ethnos and the Territory Central Asia: Ethnic History External and Internal Migrations The Iranian and the Turkic Communities The Nomadic and the Settled Population How the New Borders Came into Being The Role of Urbanization The Caucasus: the Languages and the Peoples Nagorny-Karabakh The Ethnic Situation in Azerbaijan Economic Crisis as a Factor of Building up Socio-Political and Ethnonational Tensions in the Countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasia by Leonid Fridman Economic Crisis in the NIS: Main Macroeconomic and Macrosocial Characteristics Aggravation of Economic Crisis in the NIS in 1992 Impact of the Economic Crisis on Tension Intensification in Central Asian Countries and Transcaucasia Political Dynamics of the "New" East, 1985-1993 by Sergei Panarin Politics or Ethnopolitics? The Caucasian-Transcaucasian and Central Asian Regions: Determinants of Ethnopolitical Dynamism The CTR and the CAR: Dominating Tendencies of Ethnopolitical Dynamics Conflict Knots in Ethnic Politics: Typology and Synopsis Islam and Politics in the Southern Zone of the Former USSR by Alexei Malashenko Islam under Soviet Communist Regime Islam in the Post-Soviet Period: Succession and Changes Islamic Movements: From Enlightenment to Politics First Islamic Parties Moderate and Radical Trends The Tajik Tragedy and Its Consequences for Islamic Movements Central Asia and Transcaucasia: New Geopolitics by Irina Zviagelskaia Looking for One's Own Way Impact of Foreign Forces Turkey Iran Other Asian States Experience and Prospects for Settlement of Ethno-National Conflicts in Central Asia and Transcaucasia by Vitaly V. Naumkin Specifics of Post-Soviet Ethnic Conflicts and Their Settlement Nagorno-Karabakh: Abortive Attempts to Solve a Protracted Conflict Tajikistan and the Caucasus: A Revenge Spree Russia's Servicemen in the Zones of Conflicts Conclusion Appendix: Chronicle of Main Political Events in Regions of "New" East (1985-1992) by Irina Vostyukova Bibliography Index