This volume gives an overview of the regional, ethnic and political structure of the Soviet empire from its establishment through its ultimate disintegration. It provides a corrective to the "Russocentrism" and "Great Power" bias that has marked most studies of the Soviet Union.

Chapter 101 Introduction; Part 1 Regions; Chapter 1 The Russian Core; Chapter 2 Ukraine and Belarus; Chapter 3 The Baltic West; Chapter 4 Muslim Central Asia; Chapter 5 The Divided Caucasus; Chapter 6 Moldova; Chapter 7 The Volga Basin; Chapter 8 Siberia; Part 2 Minorities; Chapter 9 The "Punished Peoples"; Chapter 10 The Jews; Chapter 11 The Germans; Chapter 12 Minorities Within the Republics; Chapter 13 Russians in Central Asia and Kazakhstan; Chapter 14 Russians in the Baltic States; Chapter 15 Russians in Ukraine and Belarus; Chapter 16 Inter-Republican Migration; Part 3 Issues; Chapter 17 The Legacy of Soviet Federalism; Chapter 18 Border Disputes; Chapter 19 Language Policies; Chapter 20 Reinterpreting History; Chapter 21 The Semiotics of Nationality Policies; Chapter 22 Religion and Nationalism; Chapter 23 Ethnic Cadres Policy; Chapter 24 The Economics of Separatism; Part 4 Policies; Chapter 25 The Marxist Approach to Nationality Problems; Chapter 26 Lenin's Nationality Policy, 1917-1922; Chapter 27 Soviet Nationality Policy in the 1920s; Chapter 28 Stalin's Nationality Policy in the 1930s (1930-1941); Chapter 29 Moscow and Nationalities in the 1940s; Chapter 30 Khrushchev's Nationality Policies; Chapter 31 Brezhnev's Peace and Prosperity; Chapter 32 The Rupture of the Modus Vivendi; Chapter 33 Yeltsin and the Nationalities; Chapter 102 Conclusion;