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Example research essay topic: The Collapse Of Soviet Union - 1,671 words

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The Collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet totalitarian regime held the many nations of the USSR together for almost three quarters of a century; the disintegration of this political system brought with it economic and political instability as well as civil wars in the separated states. Why did the collapse of the communist regime in the Soviet Union have such a negative impact? The states struggled to coordinate market mechanisms and private ownerships into their economies. Rebellions and radical reform leaders emerged and years of ethnic tensions and feelings of frustrated nationalism erupted in this new, open society that Gorbachev created. The anti-Soviet revolution in 1991 shattered the authoritarian grasp of the Soviet Unions communist party. As the Russian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian leaders declared on Dec. 8 th 1991 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is ceasing its existence (Mandelbaum 355).

Mikhail Gorbachev ascended to power in 1985, bringing with him new ideas for radical changes in a struggling nation. Gorbachev demanded reforms however he did not anticipate the consequences. Society's dissatisfaction, disillusionment and despair with the way communism operated resulted in change (Resnick 7). Gorbachev's reforms included glasnost (openness), democratization, and perestroika (economic restructuring).

Glasnost ended information restrictions and permitted public discussion about the past and present. Citizens who had been too terrified to speak broke their silence. This openness had a revolutionary impact on the Soviet Union for its citizens had lived under a regime that felt no hesitation in executing innocent that best hope of surviving lay in? K abandoning any thought of independent public activity and withdrawing into ones private world (Mandelbaum 6). Gorbachev recommended introducing a market economy that included privatization and democratic freedom. His economic perestroika restructured society; however, by increasing government spending the countrys economic crisis intensified (Mandelbaum 44).

Gorbachev also released hundreds of human rights activists and political prisoners who returned home to rebuild national rights organization that were inspired by the repression they endured during the Brezhnev era (Did and Karatnycky 7). These were huge changes in a country whose sole employer was the state. The state controlled the work force and all means of production and owned all the countrys natural resources, as private-ownership and control was not allowed. However, Gorbachev's changes did not please the conservatives, or the radicals. Perestroika weakened both the political and economic system and helped tear down Soviet communism. As the republican governments of the states and enterprises gained more power, they refused to send income to Moscow.

Gorbachev even tried pouring money into investments and tried to buy public support with wage increases and by imposing greater discipline on the work force. Nevertheless, in 1986, the USSR economy was in a state of crisis and people were fighting over the politics. Gorbachev recognized that the real crisis of the USSR was the crisis of statehood (Gosudarstvennost). The severe economic imbalance, inefficient bureaucracy, nepotism, and denial of human freedom caused the collapse of the USSR (Colton, Legvold 94).

Also, Gorbachev's inadequate efforts to crack down on the dissident Soviet ethnic groups failed. The result of his erratic, confusing, zigzagging was the putsch of August 1991, the collapse of Soviet Union. Therefore, on December 1, 1991, all union agencies were ended, the internationalization of Soviet politics was recognized and the USSR ceased to exist (Colton, Legvold 94). The overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev made Boris Yeltsin the first democratic president in June 1991.

Since Yeltsin gained military and public support after he succeeded, he immediately utilized emergency powers to liberalize the economy and restrain the communists. The USSR parliament, which was filled with representatives of the old guard almost impeached Yeltsin; therefore, he dissolved the parliament and called for a new election. Radical reform movements became strong enough to openly challenge the government as these reform leaders emerged. Demonstrations against the government and the party deepened and revolutions erupted.

The Quasi-political party was now made up of reform communists and radicals. The central committee was disbanded; party military activities, the security meetings and government ended. The armed forces were divided and disgraced; as a result, army officers were replaced because they were politically suspect (Mandelbaum 358). Democratization allowed Soviet people, through elections, to express their lack of respect for and dissatisfaction with the communist party.

The democratic party of Russian founded in May 1990, was the closest to a modern political party. Lots of new parties, full of ideologies began; however, they were more like social clubs and discussion groups than political organizations (Colton, Legvold 37). In 1992, the new Russian constitutional court, its justices appointed for life only months before, took the landmark step of pronouncing a decree of President Yeltsin: the court set up a fused police and awarded state-security ministry legislatures authority over reorganization of the government department (Colton, Legvold 29). The incapacity of administrative structures and inadequacy of organizational relations between state and society caused further problems. The new parliament was filled with ex-communist; thus, they resisted free market reforms.

Yeltsin banned communist party cells in the workplace because he wanted the Soviet economy to turn into a market economy. The new constitution provided for decentralization of power. Hence, Russian authorities took control of regional and local political authorities and producers leading to decentralization in decision-making. Democratization ended authority and the functioning of the Soviet economic system (Colton, Legvold 51). The economic operation was now under the control of the new local authority; hence, negotiation without legal bases. The government was still facing a number of problems including the lack of real money, financial institution, property rates, and market base law, assesses to land local government and general misunderstanding.

The fact that the governments were hard pressed to govern society and politics is illustrated by the weakness and incoherence of the institution. The question in post-soviet politics was not who governs? but does anyone govern here? (Colton, Legvold 18). Political institutions of the sovereign republics were suffering birthing and growing pains.

The breakdown of old patterns brought social support for the government; however, Russia is still facing the cost of the transition from communism to democracy. With the demise of the Soviet Union, the command economy ended and the economic structure and institution struggled to survive (Colton, Legvold 49). Up until this point, the confederation was based largely on economic ties. Industrial production was great and everyone was employed as it was illegal in the Soviet Union to be unemployed (people were given jobs doing nothing). However, there were tremendous problems in this ineffective system of government. The Soviet leadership purposely kept its citizens poor, preferring to increase their military and to subsidize revolutions in other non-communist societies.

The economic deterioration of this system gave rise to the famous quote they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work (Resnick 27). The economy doomed the USSR to economic backwardness; however, the self-deception that was so prevalent among Soviet leaders rendered them unable to see the fatal flaws of their own system (Resnick 27). Introducing economic freedom had inevitable social and political consequence (Resnick 364). All these states were in economic distress as they move from a centrally planned economy to market economies and private ownership.

Creating a market economy was the greatest problem facing the former Soviet Union: its success depended on its new leaders ability at replacing the old system of central planning with a market economy. Yeltsin's plan for Russia was to increase the production of consumer goods and to improve the standard of living for all Russians. He encouraged private farming as a means to increase food production. Sure enough, a market was created and goods appeared on the shelves of private businesses however the consumer product was too expensive for the average citizen to purchase. Gorbachev's political relaxation of the late 1980 s offered an opportunity for change and freedom: the ethnic groups thought nationalism was the solution to the problems of Soviet society and politics (Colton, Legvold 93).

The communist failure can also be viewed as a nationalist victory. The desire for independence? broke the eternal union of fraternal people into 15 states (Resnick 1). Nearly half of the Soviet population was not Russian; therefore, the non-Russian people in USSR had an identity crisis (Resnick 12).

In the 1960 s and 70 s, inter-ethnic conflicts among national groups were already very intense; therefore, when de-Stalinization was introduced, all republics became committed to constructed democracy. Ethnic relations were affected by Stalin's designing of republic boundaries, which placed large national minorities with in each union republic, and by the ranking of republics and lesser ethnic homelands (Colton, Legvold 184). The end of the Soviet Union turned disagreement between the problems of one state into deadly conflicts between separate states. Ethnicity was linked to political structure and to territory; boundaries of government units and territories were divided according to the ethnic composition of the population (Resnick 85). A fight for power and property after the collapse of Soviet communism was everywhere.

Power struggles between the old leaders and democratic forces often led to violent rioting or civil war, and then usually resulted in some form of dictatorship. In Georgia, Armenia, Fizerbaijan, Tajilastan, conflicts broke out as they declared their independence then fought with each other over ethnic boundaries. Many factors contributed to the fall of communism but nationalism was the decisive force. The communist Soviet Union was dissolved almost 10 years ago. One totalitarian state was transformed into 15 independent republics. These metamorphoses did not take place without bitter, often deadly conflicts; the problems are not yet resolved.

The economic and political environment has improved; however, debates over ethnic boundaries and independence persist. Moving from a centrally controlled state to a market economy requires knowledge, foresight, financial support and stable institutions: The leaders were unprepared for the chaos that erupted with the advent of democracy. Bibliography: Mandelbaum, K. The fall of Soviet Union.

New York: Viking Press, 1996. Colton W. , Legvold Y. Controversies of Soviet Democracy. Oxford University Press, 2000. Resnick I. Collapse of Soviet Empire.

Blitz Print, 1998.


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