Exploring the tensions inherent in transition, this perceptive book offers a wide-ranging overview of the impact of democracy and capitalism on the former Soviet republics. Leading scholars assess the region’s daunting problems in the key realms of privatization, democratization, foreign investment, agrarian reform, local governance, and market economics. Their analysis is enriched with a wealth of original data based on field research in Russia, Lithuania, and Kyrgystan. The contributors argue that the central dilemma facing all these fledgling countries is the inherent contradiction between the immediate pursuit of privatization and foreign investment and the long-term policy goal of democratization. The book focuses especially on how the Communist past and its authoritarian legacy still powerfully hinder economic transformation in ways that build public support for and legitimacy of democratic processes and institutions. Offering both theoretical and comparative perspectives on the far-reaching implications of nation-building and democratic transition, this valuable study will enable both students and scholars to comprehend the unique difficulties of transition.