Politics of Uncertainty
The United States, the Baltic Question, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Published on 27. April 2023
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-19-757834-6 (ISBN)
Description
In March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet Republic to declare its independence. Within weeks, the two other Baltic states, Estonia and Latvia, announced the beginning of a transition period toward full sovereignty. The Soviet Union, which considered the Baltic declarations illegal, harshly condemned them and imposed an economic blockade against Lithuania. Fearing an outbreak of violence in the region, the United States tried to de-escalate the crisis, pressuring all sides to engage in dialogue.
Thirty years after the Soviet collapse Politics of Uncertainty investigates the interplay between international and domestic dynamics in the Soviet disintegration process. Based on extensive multilingual archival research, this book recovers the voices of local actors in Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius in its examination of the triangular relations between Washington, Moscow, and Baltic independence movements. Occupied and annexed by the USSR in 1940, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were the first Soviet republics to push the limits of Perestroika. The Baltic problem, at first seemingly minor, increasingly gained international visibility and by 1990 risked derailing issues that mattered in the eyes of both Soviet and American leaders--the transformation of the Soviet state and transformation of the European order. The United States, which had never recognized the annexation of the Baltic states, tried to perform a highly challenging balancing act of supporting Baltic independence without jeopardizing relations with the Kremlin. Meanwhile Mikhail Gorbachev, who saw the Baltics as an integral part of the USSR, was frustrated that their secessionist tendencies distracted from the monumental opportunity for change that the Perestroika project offered to his country and the world. Meanwhile, George Bush, Francois Mitterrand, and Helmut Kohl were exasperated that events at the margins of the Soviet empire risked destabilizing Gorbachev and souring East-West relations during negotiations over German reunification.
By focusing on the relations between those at the top of global power hierarchies and those situated at their margins, Una Bergmane underscores how the Soviet collapse was driven much more by uncertainty, domestic pressures, and last-minute decisions than by long-term strategy--while warning about the tenuous geopolitical positions of these three states that joined NATO and the European Union after breaking out of the Soviet empire.
Thirty years after the Soviet collapse Politics of Uncertainty investigates the interplay between international and domestic dynamics in the Soviet disintegration process. Based on extensive multilingual archival research, this book recovers the voices of local actors in Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius in its examination of the triangular relations between Washington, Moscow, and Baltic independence movements. Occupied and annexed by the USSR in 1940, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were the first Soviet republics to push the limits of Perestroika. The Baltic problem, at first seemingly minor, increasingly gained international visibility and by 1990 risked derailing issues that mattered in the eyes of both Soviet and American leaders--the transformation of the Soviet state and transformation of the European order. The United States, which had never recognized the annexation of the Baltic states, tried to perform a highly challenging balancing act of supporting Baltic independence without jeopardizing relations with the Kremlin. Meanwhile Mikhail Gorbachev, who saw the Baltics as an integral part of the USSR, was frustrated that their secessionist tendencies distracted from the monumental opportunity for change that the Perestroika project offered to his country and the world. Meanwhile, George Bush, Francois Mitterrand, and Helmut Kohl were exasperated that events at the margins of the Soviet empire risked destabilizing Gorbachev and souring East-West relations during negotiations over German reunification.
By focusing on the relations between those at the top of global power hierarchies and those situated at their margins, Una Bergmane underscores how the Soviet collapse was driven much more by uncertainty, domestic pressures, and last-minute decisions than by long-term strategy--while warning about the tenuous geopolitical positions of these three states that joined NATO and the European Union after breaking out of the Soviet empire.
Reviews / Votes
The Soviet Union's sudden and surprising collapse continues to resonate, nowhere more so than in the Baltics. Long subjugated, sometimes pawns, and oftentimes a thorn in the side of Kremlin leaders, the region's recent past tells us much about life next to a superpower. No scholar has better brought the Baltics and the end of the Cold War into focus than Una Bergmane, whose Politics of Uncertainty is certain to set the standard for any future study of this critical geopolitical hotspot. * Jeffrey A. Engel, Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University * An excellent work of scholarship, thoroughly researched, original, and incisive. Based on a vast array of sources from the USA, USSR, and Europe, Bergmane gives us a whole new perspective on the Balts' independence struggle and their crucial role in Soviet collapse and the Cold War endgame. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the strategic significance of the Baltic region today. * Kristina Spohr, author of Post Wall, Post Square: Rebuilding the World after 1989 * Bergmane is a brilliant chronicler of the Baltic quest for independence from Moscow's rule. Juxtaposing Baltic, Russian, and American sources, she tells a very nuanced and yet highly readable story of how Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania negotiated their exit from the USSR, helping to undermine the Soviet empire in the process. A required read for any student of the Soviet collapse. * Sergey Radchenko, author of Unwanted Visionaries: The Soviet Failure in Asia at the End of the Cold War * While the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev was met with appreciative recollections of his legacy of peace and democratization, Russia's brutal war against Ukraine reminds us that the causes and consequences of Soviet disintegration have not been fully established. As the world re-focuses on the process of Russia's imperial decline, Una Bergmane's analysis of the Baltic role in Soviet collapse is revelatory. With its rare and balanced analysis of the internal and international forces in play at the end of the Cold War, Politics of Uncertainty is essential reading for the post-post-Cold War world. * Violeta Davoliute, Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University * Bergmane superbly navigates the intricacies of the triangular relationshipbetween Washington, Moscow and the Baltic republics, although for readersunfamiliar with the Baltic context a chronology of events would have beenhelpful. This excellent book is highly recommended for anyone seeking greater insight into the end of the Cold War and the demise of the USSR. * Andres Kasekamp, Slavonic and East European * Una Bergmane's book is a significant contribution to the understanding of not only the collapse of the USSR and the independence of the Baltic countries, but also of the origins and evolution of current international politics in the region. I recommend it both to the scholars interested in the region and a wider readership. * Saulius Grybkauskas, Journal of the Institute of Latvian History * Bergmane has undertaken an impressive investigation of the United States' interactions with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from the 1940s until the accession of the Baltic states to NATO,particularly as she takes a multilingual approach to primary and secondary research, supplemented by interviews with key figures from the period, such as Latvian Foreign Minister Janis Jurkans and Brent Scowcroft, the US national security adviser. * Glenn Wasson, Europe-Asia Studies *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
552 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-757834-6 (9780197578346)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Una Bergmane
Politics of Uncertainty
The United States, the Baltic Question, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
E-Book
02/2023
OUP eBook
€31.49
Available for download
Una Bergmane
Politics of Uncertainty
The United States, the Baltic Question, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
E-Book
02/2023
OUP eBook
€21.99
Available for download
Person
Una Bergmane, a native of Latvia, is Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the Aleksanteri Institute at Helsinki University and a Baltic Sea Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in the United States.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Origins of the Baltic Question
Chapter 2: "Have you not noticed our absence?" The Baltic Question during the Annus Mirabilis of 1989
Chapter 3: Building a New World Order? The Lithuanian Crisis of Spring 1990
Chapter 4: The End of Perestroika? The Baltic Quest for Visibility and the Soviet Crackdown
Chapter 5: The Rise of Republics, the Fall of the Center: The Baltic Exception and the Collapse of the USSR
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Origins of the Baltic Question
Chapter 2: "Have you not noticed our absence?" The Baltic Question during the Annus Mirabilis of 1989
Chapter 3: Building a New World Order? The Lithuanian Crisis of Spring 1990
Chapter 4: The End of Perestroika? The Baltic Quest for Visibility and the Soviet Crackdown
Chapter 5: The Rise of Republics, the Fall of the Center: The Baltic Exception and the Collapse of the USSR
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index