238 i PERIOD 6 Accelerating Global Change and Realignments (c. 1900 to the present)
The end of communism did not come without discord. A key example was Yugoslavia,
where bitter confl ict broke out in Bosnia among Muslims, Serbs, and Croats in the early
1990s. Fighting continued in 1998 to 1999 between Serbs and Albanians in the province of
Kosovo. In 2004, Kosovo again became the scene of ethnic confl ict in the newly founded
Republics of Serbia and Montenegro. The province declared its independence in 2008.The 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 confl icts between ethnic groups and also with
economic diffi culties resulting from its new status outside the Soviet economy. Yeltsin, who
initiated policies that allowed for a move toward private enterprise, was faced with continu-
ing 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 confl ict renewed concerns of increasing tensions between the Putin gov-
ernment 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 century and the beginning of the twenty-fi rst century
also saw new challenges to democracy in Colombia and Venezuela. In Colombia, violence
caused by drug traffi ckers and armed rebels resulted in the fl ight of some Colombian
citizens to neighboring countries. In Venezuela, the left-leaning Hugo Chávez was elected
president in 1999. Concerned over fl uctuating 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