B. Fowkes – författare

History did not come to an end with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. This book tells the story of what followed during the 1990s. Political and national conflict, social and cultural change and the economic challenge of the transition to the market are all given their due weight. The comparative approach is combined with a detailed treatment of individual countries in alternating chapters. The distinction is made here between East Central Europe, where the author's conclusions are largely optimistic, and the Balkans, where uncertainty still prevails.

This book tells the dramatic story of the unexpected disintegration of the Soviet Union. He concludes that, the efforts of Mikhail Gorbachev to reform the state he initially controlled, undermined and eventually destroyed the mechanisms that held the non-Russians in check.

History did not come to an end with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. This book tells the story of what followed during the 1990s. Political and national conflict, social and cultural change and the economic challenge of the transition to the market are all given their due weight. The comparative approach is combined with a detailed treatment of individual countries in alternating chapters. The distinction is made here between East Central Europe, where the author's conclusions are largely optimistic, and the Balkans, where uncertainty still prevails.

Ethnic and national conflicts have been an unexpected and major source of problems in many parts of the world, no where more so than in the formerly communist countries. This book provides a readable introduction to, and brief analytical coverage of, all the ethnic disputes of the 1990s. Full justice is done both to complex present day situations and the deeper roots of ethnic conflict. This is followed by a review and evaluation of the main available explanations. The book is useful for anyone who wants to understand why the fall of communism did not introduce an era of goodwill between the nations.