The wild nineties
[1][2] Key events of the period include the August Coup, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reforms of Yeltsin's government under Gaidar, privatization of state assets into private hands, price liberalization, devaluation of citizens' savings, unpaid wages, pensions, and social benefits, the constitutional crisis that ended in the violent dispersal of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet, the Ossetian-Ingush armed conflict of 1992, the 1993 currency reform, the rise of terrorism and organized crime, two Chechen wars, the 1998 economic crisis, westernization, sexual revolution, moral relativism, a sharp decline in birth rates, and increased mortality during peacetime, etc.
A 2009 all-Russian survey by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences revealed that the overwhelming majority associated the word "democracy" with theft, corruption, and national humiliation, with only 10.4% of respondents viewing the concept positively.
[6] The term "wild nineties," while most commonly associated with Russia’s post-Soviet experience, also resonates in other former Soviet republics that underwent similar transitions during the decade.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, these newly independent states faced their own versions of economic collapse, political turmoil, and social transformation, often characterized by hyperinflation, privatization scandals, and the rise of oligarchic elites.
Privatization efforts, intended to dismantle the Soviet command economy, instead enabled a small group of insiders to amass wealth, a phenomenon mirrored in Russia.
Political instability, including frequent government turnovers and the struggle to assert national identity amid Russian influence, further echoed the "wild" descriptor.
Georgia descended into civil war and ethnic conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, compounded by economic ruin and widespread lawlessness.
Kazakhstan leveraged its oil and gas reserves to eventually stabilize under Nursultan Nazarbayev’s rule, though the early years saw economic disarray and elite enrichment through privatization.
Turkmenistan’s Saparmurat Niyazov cultivated a personality cult while the economy faltered, and Kyrgyzstan oscillated between reform and instability, earning a reputation as the region’s most volatile democracy.
The "wild nineties" in Slovakia reflected a struggle to define national identity and catch up to its more prosperous Czech neighbor, with stability only emerging after Mečiar’s ouster in 1998.
[7] Poland, the first Eastern Bloc country to overthrow communism via Solidarity’s electoral victory in 1989, embraced aggressive market reforms under Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz.
