In early 2003, President George W. Bush touted the prospects for democratization in Iraq, as well as in adjacent countries of the Middle East, following a U. S.-led invasion. He neglected to explain, however, how a country home to Kurds, Arab Sunnis, and Arab Shi'a—groups that historically have not co-existed harmoniously—would adjust to new and imposed political arrangements. Both the Shi'a, who constitute a majority, and the Kurds seek to escape Sunni oppression, omnipresent since the creation of Iraq in the 1920s. Although democracy may end Sunni privilege, Washington's commitment to the territorial integrity of Iraq will likely dissatisfy some if not many Kurds and Shi'a, who, presumably, not only expect improved representation within an Iraqi parliament but also enhanced political and cultural autonomy. Nearly a century ago, similar yearnings manifested themselves only to remain unfulfilled. This theme of dashed expectations pervades Aviel Roshwald's superb book, Ethnic Nationalism & the Fall of Empires: Central Europe, Russia & the Middle East, 1914–1923.

After Slovakia and the Czech lands separated in 1993, concerns arose regarding Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian, or Magyar, minority. There were concerns about the Slovak government's attitude toward its considerable Magyar population as well as worries about the Hungarian government's stance regarding Magyars in Slovakia and the Slovak-Hungarian border. Frequently over the past decade, the topic of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia has been manipulated by politicians. In both Slovakia and Hungary, Slovak and Hungarian politicians alike have tried to expose “injustices” or “excesses” for political gain. Indeed, the maneuvering of national politicians might lead one to perceive that the reality of contemporary Slovak-Magyar relations was tenuous and acrimonious. But politics aside, what does the average Slovak think of the Magyar minority and Magyar-Slovak relations generally? To what extent do the political debates encompass their actual concerns and deeply held views?

This paper discusses Romani migration to the U. K. from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the closing years of the twentieth century, with particular reference to the Czech and Slovak Republics. These case studies were chosen to illustrate wider points because they are the best documented, particularly with regard to illuminating sociological research on motivations for migration. Comparisons with similar migration to Canada shed further light on the situation. Refugees from these CEE countries have met a hostile reception in the U. K. It is argued here, however, that popular ignorance alone does not provide a sufficient explanation for this hostility: rather, the condemnation of Romani asylum seekers is seen as an expression of a deep-rooted and long-standing anxiety in the U. K. about immigration and its potential consequences. In spite of their relatively insignificant numbers, Roma have acted as convenient motifs in this ongoing discourse, being assigned a prominent symbolic role at a time of heightened political sensitivity.

The debate about the Roma's fate throughout the Second World War has taken on a controversial character in recent years. The focal point of this controversy is whether the Roma's persecution was racially motivated or not. Reflecting upon the Roma's treatment throughout the war period, various scholars regard social-political factors such as the wandering way of life and especially the ascription of criminality as the main reasons for discrimination against and persecution of Roma. Ultimately, the authority most responsible for the crimes against Roma in the “Old Reich” was the Criminal Office. An extreme stance is the thesis of G. Lewy, who denies not only the planned character of the persecution but also its racial/racist intention. Lewy also refutes the comparability of the Roma's fate with that of the Jews.

This article analyses how migration has affected the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since they entered both regions in the Middle Ages. It explores the importance of migration in the culture and history of the Roma and looks at how forced migration has harmed the Roma and helped build some of the negative stereotypes and prejudices that have haunted them until today.

With the rise of ethnonationalism, scholars have generated intense debates over civic nationalism versus ethnic nationalism. The Mongols at China's Edge represents another effort added to endorse ethnic nationalism with its application to the Chinese context. The author aims to “explore from diverse angles the moral and political implications and contradictions of minzu tuanjie (national unity) in the socialist China” (p. 1). A legitimate question raised by the author in the introduction is whether the regional autonomy granted to national minorities in China encourages a sense of separate nationhood for Mongols or contributes to the assimilation of Mongols into China.

In the period after Gorbachev's rise to power and later after the Soviet Union's collapse, the measurement and presentation of Russia's political culture and national identity were the province of practitioners of the mass survey. Over the past several years, however, a number of excellent qualitative studies involving extended field work and open-ended questions have added significant depth of understanding generally missing from these mass survey findings. Bo Petersson's National Self-Images and Regional Identities in Russia is an excellent example of this relatively new wave of qualitative studies.

Like the declarations of the newly empowered republican elites in Jeffrey Kahn's text, murky notions of federalism, democracy, sovereignty and the rule of law mar current debates about Russian federalism. Lacking some foundational understanding of these concepts as applied to the Russian context, analysts neither agree on the nature of the problems nor the potential means to resolve them and analyses frequently degenerate into subjective judgments about the intentions of political actors involved in the institution-building process. Jeffrey Kahn's Federalism, Democratization, and the Rule of Law in Russia comes the closest of any currently available work to providing a framework for discussions of Russian federal reform by tracing the development of contemporary Russian federalism and attempting to place it within a carefully constructed federal typology. In this respect, this work is essential reading for anyone interested in issues of federalism and post-Soviet Russia.

In bringing together this wealth of information on Russia's republics and regions, Orttung and his associates at the EastWest Institute have done the field a tremendous service. Spanning almost 700 pages, this weighty tome includes all of the basic information on each of Russia's subjects of the federation in one easily accessible volume. The fact that this is the only place much of this information can be accessed in English also makes it extremely useful as a teaching resource, given the limited number of students with adequate Russian-language skills.