The former Soviet Union was to deal with a number of unique obstacles during the post-Soviet transition.

The third type - peasant farms - began to emerge only after 1990, during the post-Soviet transition.

Azerbaijan is an economy that has completed its post-Soviet transition into a major oil based economy (with the completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline), from one where the state played the major role.

In the early years of Russia's post-Soviet transition, lingering fear of Soviet control and a romantic optimism for a normal democracy limited corruption to some extent.

From 1988 to 1991, Vardan Hovhannisyan was a freelance cameraman and covered the hot regions and ethnic conflicts related to the post-Soviet transition for the international news.

The papal visit also comes as Ukraine is passing through a political crisis that reflects how much this country remains on the cusp of post-Soviet transition.

The Olympic team has once again become a vehicle for the country's national pride, still deeply conflicted after nearly 13 years of post-Soviet transition.

Vladimir Putin represents the end of the post-Soviet transition and is emblematic of Russian leadership for years, if not decades, to come.

The main feature of post-Soviet transition was the immediate establishment of oligarchies and criminality.

The protesters here in Khimki's central square on Saturday represented those who have fared the worst in Russia's post-Soviet transition.