The parade of sovereignties: Establishing the vocabulary of the new Russian federalism

On the basis of extensive on-site interviews and documentary sources, the a uthor interprets the dynamics of the collapse of the Soviet Union by analyz ing the cascade of sovereignty declarations issued by republics of the USSR as well as by autonomous republics and other subunits of the Russian repub lic, in 1990-1991. Interrelationships among the declarations, and other put ative causes of their content and timing, are explored. A case study of Tat arstan is provided. The study also analyzes the impact of the process on su bsequent Russian approaches to federalism.