ABSTRACT
In view of the tragic developments in recent years in the former Yugoslavia, Nagorno (Mountainous)-Karabakh, Georgia, Tajikistan, and Moldova, it must be asked to what extent violent conflict will be the fate of other post-Soviet or post-communist countries and regions. This chapter will focus on the situation in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and assess the nature of ethnic relations and the prospects for conflict in the area. It is this author's contention that in the post-Soviet world this issue must be viewed in a clearly differentiated perspective, and each country or region must be examined in the context of its own distinctive ethnic composition and historical development. In particular, it should not be assumed that the Yugoslavian case is the norm for the future. Indeed, it will be argued here that the prospects for continued non-violent development and a gradualist solution to any ethnic problems in the Baltic states remain favorable.
