The Empire's Fragments or the Community of Independent States Paris : Ifri, 2001. - 153 p. (Cahiers de l'Ifri, n° 33)
This book examines the situation and the future of the Community of Independent States (CIS), ten years after its creation in December 1991.
The fall of the Soviet Union proclaimed in Minsk on December ,8, 1991 put a halt to communism where it had begun 73 years earlier. The end of the communist system led to the fall of the four century old Russian Empire. It was replaced by a nebulous interstate construction build around twelve new States, which formed the Community of Independent States (CIS). The CIS is composed of the Russian federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldavia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.
What is the situation of the CIS ten years after its creation? What does this community represent in the beginning of the 21st century? An empty shell condemned to disappear, a burgeoning economic, legal and military community, or the starting point for Moscow's neo-imperialistic ambitions?
The book tries to answer these questions, which will alter the future of the Eurasian territory and modify our global equilibrium in many ways.