Inter-republican co-operation of the Russian republic

ENThe most important republic of the former Soviet Union, the Russian Republic, engaged in cooperative activities during the period June 1990-August 1991 with the fourteen other Union republics. It supported the demands of these republics for sovereignty and signed important treaties with them. This cooperation process is dissected in this dissertation through the use of a multi-method research approach. The theoretical orientation is derived from elite conflict theory and the literature on collapse of empires in the twentieth century. The collected evidence yield the following conclusions: Russia's cooperation with the other republics was the manifestation of a major elite conflict. It also epitomized the Russian government's effort to manage the uncontrolled breakup of the Soviet state in a manner ensuring Russian dominance in the post-Soviet space.