The Crisis of National Relations Within the USSR as a System of Problems

Abstract

The theoretical ideas, models, and concepts available in the arsenal of our social sciences are, as the development of events in the area of ethnic problems shows, not yet capable of serving as effective guideposts in the process of developing and making political decisions; nor are they able adequately to describe the ethnic situation within our country. The crisis, manifested in the unpredictable and overwhelming way in which ethnic conflicts have arisen and been exacerbated, is directly related to a crisis in our theoretical notions regarding what nations are and how they interact.