In this important work, Russian scholar Kremenyuk examines the state of political affairs in the former Soviet Union. As Russia moves fitfully toward democracy and away from its totalitarian past, sharp divisions--contemporary and historical--have appeared, within and around the new nation-state. These conflicts have already blocked some of the movement toward democracy. And as the contending parties, the president, and the parliament in the present Russian government struggle for power, that political struggle increases the likelihood of authoritarian solutions.