Conclusion

The conclusion synthesizes the volume’s findings to argue that ethnicity remains a structural element of political conflict and modern warfare in the post-Soviet space. While post-Soviet states have experimented with divergent models of nation- and state-building, many have failed to consolidate stable liberal-democratic orders, instead of producing authoritarian or hybrid regimes amid globalization and cultural diversification. Across cases, the chapters demonstrate how political cleavages are reshaped by large-scale violence, geopolitical realignments, and information warfare, and how unresolved conflicts might function as engines of political transformation, reconfiguring identities, institutions, and power relations in the post-Soviet world.