HOOMAN PEIMANI, Failed Transition, Bleak Future? War and Instability in Central Asia and the Caucasus (Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers). Pp. 163. $59.95 cloth.

Extract

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Caucasus and Central Asian regions have emerged as two of the most complex regions in international politics. The emergence of the new republics and their detachment from the communist state and its economic system have brought about a sudden decline in economic conditions and an increase in social problems in most of these countries in addition to the outbreak of ethnic and national conflicts.