In this provocative study, Mikhail A. Molchanov analyzes the
political and cultural factors that underlie modern national
identities in Russia and Ukraine and systematically compares the
political cultures of these two historically similar, yet profoundly
different nations.
	
    The author argues that domestic and international factors shape
national identities, which are not an inherent characteristic of a
people, but arise in interaction with the national "other." The "self-
other" relationship is therefore a key element of national identity,
particularly in newly independent states, of which Ukraine is a
prime example.

    Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, national identities
had to be reconstructed or re-created. Molchanov questions the
extent to which Russians have been able to construct an identity
apart from that of the Soviet Union, arguing that the system
denationalized them in an attempt to create the ideal "Soviet Man."

    Molchanov sees Ukraine neither as Russia's victim, nor as its
opposite. Unlike those who fear a resurgent Russia and who argue
that it should be contained by local nationalisms in the "near
abroad," Molchanov believes this strategy can lead only to
estrangement between Russia and its neighbors. In addition,
Russia's recent opening and demonstrated support of the United
States is too valuable to the world to be sacrificed to a new variant
of the containment strategy.

_________________________________________________________

MIKHAIL A. MOLCHANOV currently works in the department of
political science at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New
Brunswick, Canada.


Number Seventeen: Eastern European Studies


What people are saying about this book

". . . an excellent introduction to the subject, strongly argued, but
also detailed, balanced, and insightful."—Anatol Lieven, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace