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Short Answer Questions On Gorbachev 's Reforms

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POLI 260 Midterm

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Please write on three of the following six questions (100-150 words each). Note the most important elements of each. Each answer will be worth 10 points (30 points total).

2) Gorbachev’s reforms
Gorbachev’s named reforms of glasnost and perestroika promised freedom of discussion and restructuring of the government, respectively. These reforms were implemented with the optimistic belief that people would still choose communism over capitalism. The 1989 elections introduced a degree of choice to the constituency, allowing expression of dissent from the Party — and proving that the citizens largely were dissenters. Decreased censorship allowed the press to try out investigative journalism against …show more content…

Nagy was restored as premier, and in a belief that the revolt could become a revolution for independence, declared Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. Soviet tanks violently crushed the revolt in November. Soviet intervention would be retroactively justified through the Brezhnev Doctrine. ESSAY QUESTIONS
Please write on two of the following four questions (450-600 words), each worth 35 points:
6) What factors account for the fall of communism? Identify factors that were shared across the Soviet and East European communist countries. What were country-specific factors? Explain the interplay between developments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
When Gorbachev came to power, he brought with him idealistic concepts of reform. He proposed partly free elections, but the elections of 1989 only demonstrated extreme doubt in the party. Loosening controls on the press within the USSR meant that congressional sessions were televised, but also unflattering information about the government was more easily circulated than ever before. National identities became the dominant source of political organization, and Russian President Yeltsin began challenging the authority of Gorbachev and the USSR. Soviet Republics began declaring independence from the Soviet Union and gain recognition from other states.
In the 1980s, Eastern Europe was suffering economically, after accumulating

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