The last in a series of ten volumes produced by the Russian Littoral Project, this volume shapes the view that despite the dramatic growth of high-quality Western scholarship on post-Soviet developments, the interaction between external influences/trends in Russia and other post-Soviet countries has not received systematic analysis.

The collapse of the Soviet Union had the simultaneous effect of demolishing the international political order of the past half-century, with consequences for all sides. Western policy makers, no less than the leaders of the region, had to reorient themselves to a new world -- knowing that their actions might impact developments in unexpected ways.

This concluding volume of the International Politics of Eurasia series takes on the challenge of specifying the forces at work in the International environment of Russia and the New Independent States and gauging the impact of external actors on developments in this region. Among the topics covered are foreign and security policies; relationships with East Asian, Near Eastern, and Western States; and the impact of international economic and financial institutions, development assistance and advisory programs of various kinds, and aid organizations.