in 1998 to 1999 between Serbs and Albanians in the province of Kosovo. In 2004, Kosovo again
became the scene of ethnic conflict in the newly founded Republics of Serbia and Montenegro. The
province declared its independence in 2008.
Final Days of the Soviet Union and Thereafter
In the summer of 1991, the Baltic republics declared their independence. Independence movements
spread throughout the European border republics of Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova, and also in the
Muslim regions of central Asia. In December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved and replaced by
the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Communist party was terminated, and the elected
president of the Russian Republic, Boris Yeltsin, became the leader of the Commonwealth of
Independent States.
The new commonwealth was faced with conflicts between ethnic groups and also with economic
difficulties resulting from its new status outside the Soviet economy. Yeltsin, who initiated policies
that allowed for a move toward private enterprise, was faced with continuing opposition during his
rule and resigned in 1999. In 2000, a new president, Vladimir Putin, was elected; he was reelected in
2004, and in 2008 was appointed prime minister by the newly elected Russian president. Russia
continued to struggle with economic weakness and organized crime. Ethnic clashes, especially within
the Muslim-dominated province of Chechnya, plagued the commonwealth.
In 2008, violence broke out as Russian forces entered the democratic republic of Georgia in
retaliation for Georgia’s attempt to put down a separatist revolt in the province of South Ossetia.
Because Georgia had a security relationship with the United States, the Georgia-Russia conflict
renewed concerns of increasing tensions between the Putin government and the United States.
Latin America
At the end of the cold war, more Latin American nations were moving toward democracy. Still,
resistance to democratic rule was seen in groups such as the leftist Sendero Luminoso in Peru, which
attempted to disrupt free elections in 1990. El Salvador remained under the control of its military, and
the government of Nicaragua, no longer under the control of the Sandinistas, had to chart a new
course under the direction of its elected president, Violeta Chamorro. The end of the twentieth and the
beginning of the twenty-first centuries also saw new challenges to democracy in Colombia and
Venezuela. In Colombia, violence caused by drug traffickers and armed rebels resulted in the flight of
some Colombian citizens to neighboring countries. In Venezuela, the left-leaning Hugo Chávez was
elected president in 1999. Concerned over fluctuating oil prices, Chávez nationalized a number of
Venezuelan industries, including petroleum. In 2007, Venezuelans voted down proposed constitutional
changes that would have given Chávez additional powers.
Additional issues plagued Latin American nations. Some of them owed large foreign debts; and in
some, huge international drug cartels threatened government stability. The end of the twentieth
century, however, saw renewed hope for enduring democracies and popular participation in Latin
America. In Mexico in 2000, for example, the PRI lost its dominant status with the election of Vicente
Fox of the PAN party as president. The new administration continued to struggle with poverty and
illegal immigration to the United States.