Andreas Umland is Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for European Security in the Institute of International Relations at Prague, Principal Researcher of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation at Kyiv, and General Editor of the ibidem-Verlag book series “Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society”.

Dr. Li Bennich-Bjorkman is Johan Skytte Professor in Eloquence and Political Science at the University of Uppsala. A member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, she held visiting fellowships at the Swedish and Helsinki Collegiums for Advanced Study as well as University of California at Berkeley. Her previous books include, among others, Political Culture under Institutional Pressure (Palgrave Macmillan 2007) and Baltic Biographies at Historical Crossroads (Routledge 2012). Her papers have been published by, among other outlets, East European Politics and Societies, Nationalities Papers, Journal of Baltic Studies, East European Quarterly, East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, and Higher Education Quarterly.

“This book is a significant contribution to the scholarly literature on state- and nation-building processes in divided societies in general and in post-Soviet republics in particular. The Latvian case is a lesson to all transitional and multiethnic societies trying to build a strong state and a unified nation. This book is necessary reading for scholars, policymakers and postgraduate students to enhance their understanding of the complex processes associated with state- and nation-building and successful governance.” Ohannes Geukjian, American University of Beirut, Europe-Asia Studies, November 2018