ABSTRACT
The collapse of the Soviet Union brought monumental changes to the political
world, creating 15 new states. These states were faced with the enormous
challenges of building democratic state institutions at the same time as building
a nation; creating a national economy; and formulating their foreign policy
orientation. However, the changes within each successor state were not
wholesale. Many state institutions were inherited from the Soviet period and
were adapted to the new tasks of independent statehood, while Soviet-era
officials continued to staff these institutions. Therefore, these institutions were
not designed for sovereign, rule-of-law states and were poorly equipped to
manage the wider state transformations.
