There was a lot of chaos. Infighting. But a government managed to evolve from it anyway, it just took time. The worst part was probably the radiation blast from when the wormhole collapsed, combined with the toxins, allergens, mutagens, and teratogens of the native plants. Infanticide was, and in the backcountry still is, commonly practiced when children were born with obvious...problems.

[The aversion to the word "mutations" is fairly typical for a Barrayaran.]