Goodbye Post-Soviet Space?
... states has covered an arduous path of national construction and gaining international legitimacy. In the intervening period, the space that had been the Soviet Union until 1991 has become greatly fragmented. Some former Soviet republics have joined NATO and the European Union, while others are trying to form an alternative to the Euro-Atlantic project in the shape of Eurasian integration. The breakup of the USSR did not exactly follow the borders formed during the Soviet period. Many new independent states, including Russia, have faced challenges in the form of separatists and lived through ethno-political conflicts. As a result, de facto entities emerged ...