Ethnopolitics and transition to democracy: The collapse of the USSR and Latvia

Washington, D.C., The Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. — 206 p.Pluralism and nationalism are not irreconcilable according to the author of this in-depth study of the breakup of the Soviet Union that focuses on the ethnopolitics of Latvia. She demonstrates, using the example of Latvia, that the application of democratic practices within a multi-ethnic society makes possible the creation of a new kind of nationalism and respect for the human rights of ethnic groups.
Ethnopolitics expands the meaning and role of ethnic politics within formerly communist-controlled systems and constructs a new theoretical approach to regime change and the transition to democracy in formerly totalitarian states. Ethnic theories of politics need to take account of regime change, and vice versa, argues Karklins.