The three countries examined in this section have two things in common – they are all former Soviet states, and they have all had very troubled starts, albeit in slightly different ways, in their transitions from communism. This trouble shows few signs of abating. Belarus and Ukraine were relatively reluctant to let go of communism; their Soviet-era leadership had resisted glasnost and perestroika, and there was little in the way of popular anti-Soviet protest either before or during the breakup of the Soviet Union. Not surprisingly, neither embraced either liberal democracy or the market economy with much enthusiasm, and in their politics and economics both reveal substantial continuity with the Soviet era. Belarus and Ukraine were under communist control for much longer than were the “outer empire” states, and were affected more directly by the collapse of the Soviet Union. While the economies of many East European states were closely linked to the Soviet economy, primarily through Comecon, they were not actually constituent parts of a single economy, as were the former Soviet republics. Nor were the political elites of Central and East European countries actually part of the Soviet elite – unlike the elites of Belarus and Ukraine. No Pole or Hungarian sat on the Soviet Politburo. This has meant that the elites of the former Soviet republics have had more ground to cover in terms of creating new state identities (as well as institutions) than many of their counterparts in CEE.