Authoritarian multi-ethnic European states were broken up in 1991 when Croatia and Serbia seceded from the former Yugoslavia through war and Georgia withdrew as the Soviet Union collapsed. But the illiberal character of the secessionists in Croatia, Serbia and Georgia embroiled them – and post-Soviet Russia – in wars against their own undemocratic separatists.
In Georgia and Russia, widespread electoral fraud produced different outcomes. In a peaceful revolution Georgians rose against what they regarded as a corrupt presidency, forcing it from office and necessitating fresh presidential elections last month. Russians accepted the results of a rigged election which could be the first step towards a new dictatorship.
