Secessionist conflict in post-Soviet republics: The effects of Soviet policies.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, one-third of the former republics have experienced some level of civil conflict. These conflicts often embroil neighboring states, threatening regional stability. Many of these conflicts are still ongoing. However, it is difficult to find studies that tackle the violence of this region in an analytical way or seek to identify a unifying characteristic of these conflicts. I propose that Soviet-imposed institutional policies and practices can be identified as factors that caused major problems in these areas after the collapse of the Soviet Union, particularly the matrioshka system that designated some areas within the republics as autonomous and the language policies that imposed certain languages on all peoples in a republic regardless of the autonomous indicator. The autonomous designations provided an incubator. This policy provided a piece of land that actively prevented assimilation. In other areas, groups could be fused with other ethnic minorities or the Russians more easily. Within these zones, however, the language of the host republic was often imposedâ??for example, Georgian was forced on the people of Abkhazia. It has been argued that if Russian was forced on everyone in Georgia each person within Georgia, regardless of region, would feel a bond form being equally oppressed. Utilizing a case study approach, I explore each of the post-Soviet civil conflicts and outline the ways in which these policies caused and protracted these conflicts. Finding unifying characteristics could contribute to efforts to make peace in these areas. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]