This book examines what came to determine the local power and character of the Communist party-state at the level of the national non-Russian republics.

Introduction Li Bennich-Björkman and Saulius Grybkauskas 1. Purging in the Khrushchev era: 'Red cardinals' and nationalism in the Soviet Republics Michael Loader 2. The formation and development of the Soviet Latvian Nomenklatura: Path dependency, cleavages, and imposed unanimity Daina Bleiere 3. Patterns of succession: Top party elite recruitment in Soviet Moldavia and centre-periphery relations, 1940-1991 Igor Casu 4. The transformist: The evolution and adaptability of Sharaf Rashidov's regime in Soviet Uzbekistan Riccardo Mario Cucciolla 5. The Belarusian Soviet nomenklatura: A political history, 1947-1994 Andrei Kazakevich 6. The Soviet nomenklatura and cultural opposition during the Brezhnev period in Lithuania Saulius Grybkauskas 7. Ukraine: Falling in and out of Moscow's grace Li Bennich-Björkman 8. Between centre and periphery: The Gamsakhurdia and Kostava affair Timothy K. Blauvelt 9. Pragmatic political practice: The Estonian Communist Party, the intelligentsia, and Moscow Li Bennich-Björkman