|
|
Article: Review: Books: Why empires fall apart Anne Applebaum on a provocative study which compares the Soviet Union with other imperial powers
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- August 27, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
Empire: The Russian Empire and its Rivals
by Dominic Lieven
John Murray, pounds 25, 476 pp
pounds 22 (free p&p) 0870 155 7222
EVERY AGE IS afflicted by the self-important certainty of its own
uniqueness, and ours is no different. Over the past decade, as we
have witnessed the disintegration of the Soviet empire in Europe, we
have treated the events which followed as unique in world history.
Political scientists have spoken of new paradigms, the need to
create new international "systems" in the Soviet Union's wake.
Politicians have grappled with old and familiar problems in Bosnia,
in Chechnya, in Kosovo, all the while acting as if none of these
places had ever existed before.
Now Dominic ...