Romania
Soviet occupation following World War II led to the
formation of a Communist "peoples republic" in 1947 and the
abdication of the king. The decades-long rule of dictator Nicolae
CEAUSESCU, who took power in 1965, and his Securitate police state
became increasingly oppressive and draconian through the 1980s.
CEAUSESCU was overthrown and executed in late 1989. Former
Communists dominated the government until 1996, when they were swept
from power by a fractious coalition of centrist parties. Currently,
the Social Democratic Party forms a nominally minority government,
which governs with the support of the opposition Democratic Union of
Hungarians in Romania. Bucharest must address rampant corruption,
while invigorating lagging economic and democratic reforms, before
Romania can achieve its hope of joining the European Union.
Russia
Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War
I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian
Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the 300-year old Romanov
Dynasty. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after
and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53)
strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens
of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in
the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV
(1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika
(restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his
initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991
splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then,
Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political
system and market economy to replace the strict social, political,
and economic controls of the Communist period. A determined
guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya.
Rwanda
In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the
majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king.
Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and
some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The
children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan
Patriotic Front, and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with
several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic
tensions, culminating in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly
800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Tutsi rebels defeated the
Hutu regime and ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2
million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to
neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire. Since then, most
of the refugees have returned to Rwanda. Despite substantial
international assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's
first local elections in March 1999 - the country continues to
struggle to boost investment and agricultural output and to foster
reconciliation. A series of massive population displacements, a
nagging Hutu extremist insurgency, and Rwandan involvement in two
wars over the past four years in the neighboring DROC continue to
hinder Rwanda's efforts.
Saint Helena
Uninhabited when first discovered by the Portuguese in
1502, Saint Helena was garrisoned by the British during the 17th
century. It acquired fame as the place of Napoleon BONAPARTE's
exile, from 1815 until his death in 1821, but its importance as a
port of call declined after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
Ascension Island is the site of a US Air Force auxiliary airfield;
Gough Island has a meteorological station.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
First settled by the British in 1623, the
islands became an associated state with full internal autonomy in
1967. The island of Anguilla rebelled and was allowed to secede in
1971. Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983. In 1998,
a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from Saint Kitts fell
short of the two-thirds majority needed.
Saint Lucia
The island, with its fine natural harbor at Castries,
was contested between England and France throughout the 17th and
early 18th centuries (changing possession 14 times); it was finally
ceded to the UK in 1814. Self-government was granted in 1967 and
independence in 1979.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
First settled by the French in the early
17th century, the islands represent the sole remaining vestige of
France's once vast North American possessions.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Disputed between France and the
United Kingdom in the 18th century, Saint Vincent was ceded to the
latter in 1783. Autonomy was granted in 1969 and independence in
1979.
Samoa
New Zealand occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa
at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It continued to administer
the islands as a mandate and then as a trust territory until 1962,
when the islands became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish
independence in the 20th century. The country dropped the "Western"
from its name in 1997.
San Marino
The third smallest state in Europe (after the Holy See
and Monaco) also claims to be the world's oldest republic. According
to tradition, it was founded by a Christian stonemason named Marinus
in 301 A.D. San Marino's foreign policy is aligned with that of
Italy. Social and political trends in the republic also track
closely with those of its larger neighbor.