Defining Russian Federalism. By Elizabeth Pascal. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. 224p. $74.95.

The rise of Russia's regions became one of the big stories that followed the collapse of Soviet communism. After decades of submission in a highly centralized and authoritarian system, resurgent regions emerged as autonomous actors, threatening the territorial integrity and political stability of the newly independent Russian state. With the notable exception of Chechnya, Russia's regions eventually were reintegrated with the center, but on the basis of an asymmetrical federal system. Elizabeth Pascal's book examines the process that led to this uneven territorial distribution of power in post-Soviet Russia.