FOCUS QUESTION How did life change in Russia and the former East Bloc countries after 1989?

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Establishing stable democratic governments in the former East Bloc countries and the diverse territories of the Soviet Union, now divided into fifteen republics with Russia at its core, was not easy. While Russia initially moved toward economic reform and political openness, by 2010 it had returned to its authoritarian traditions. Stability proved elusive in many of the former Soviet Socialist Republics, and conflict undermined Russia’s relations with some of these new nation-states.

The transformation of the Communist East Bloc was also difficult. After a period of tense reform, some countries, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, established relatively prosperous democracies and joined NATO and then the European Union. Others, such as Romania and Bulgaria, lagged behind. In multiethnic Yugoslavia, the collapse of communism and the onset of a disastrous civil war broke the country apart. All these changes produced mixed results for ordinary folk.