The Causes of the Soviet Union's Collapse

The Soviet Union, which was once a world superpower in the 19th century saw itself in chaos going into the 20th century. These chaoses were marked by the new ideas brought in by the new leaders who had emerged eventually into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union was crumbling at this period both politically and socially, as well as the economy. There were underlying reasons for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eventually Eastern Europe. The economy is the most significant aspect of every government. The soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1. fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government

The collapse of the communist Soviet Union ultimately led to the end of the cold war. The dissolution of the USSR in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. Thus highlighting the inferiority of communism and the superiority of western capitalism. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, however, was a result of both domestic and international factors including policies established by both the US and the Soviet leaders, most importantly Gorbachev’s ‘New Thinking’ reforms combined with the hard-line approach of Ronald Reagan. It has also been argued that the collapse of communism in eastern Europe was inevitable due to its moral bankruptcy, as well as the growing economic pressures which ultimately forced the Soviet Union to

The Soviet Union was none the less held together by "…powerful central institutions, pressure for ideological conformity, and the threat of force." (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Therefore, these new reforms could not overpower the previous ‘seventy years' of soviet rule.

Seriously, the USSR was not communist or socialist. Conversely, the USSR was actually capitalist since bureaucrats privately owned the means of production. When collectivist societies have existed, they fell from external forces.

Twenty-five years ago, the Soviet Union collapsed taking by surprise therewith not only the international community, but also its own leaders. What brought the superpower down? Its authoritarian and corrupt political system, failure of the planned economy and stagnation, or consistent celebration of national diversity throughout the whole history of the Soviet Union? If the question is why the USSR disintegrated into 15 independent states, then the answer lies in the republican lines which were drawn around ethnicity. In this essay, I argue the primacy of the ethnofederal system and Soviet nation-building policy to the fall of “the last European empire”. First, I will address the main tenets of and motifs behind the Soviet approach to the “nationality question” and how it backfired on the Communist Party and Russian democrats, who strived to preserve the union, seven decades later; then I will discuss political and economic structural flaws of the Soviet system and give reasons for why they could not solely account for the actual break up when examined from a broader perspective; lastly I will analyze mechanisms, predetermined by ethnofederal system and Soviet ethno-cultural policies, that facilitated an avalanche of secessions from the USSR, and sum up my arguments.

So, why did the USSR collapse? I witnessed this event, and I think there were two major components, or reasons, that caused this colossal break down, changing all political structure and leading to several economic issues. The USA convinced Saudi Arabia to lower oil prices, thous, the Soviet Union cannot benefit from its very own oil. This move leaded to the deficiency of the hard currency reserves of the USSR.

In this project we are focusing and highlighting the economic reasons for collapse of Soviet Union.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and other socialist regimes in the early 1990s, marked a new era for the dominance of liberal democracy and capitalism. However, in Latin America there has been a resurgence of socialism into the 21st century. This resurgence has come to be known as the Pink Tide. It is associated with a moderate form of socialism that attempts to work with the current capitalist global economy and globalization. Although the degree of socialism differs from country to country, the foundation among all the states was to rebuild the region through multipolarity and solidarity. Since the implementation of neoliberal economic policies in the 1980s, many Latin American countries were experiencing social, political, and economic crises, leftist movements and parties began rising to challenge the new order. The Pink Tide began in 1998 when Hugo Chavez was elected president in Venezuela. This paved the way for other leftist groups to gain momentum throughout the region. These groups were able to make their mark primarily due to the failure of neoliberal governments and policies to improve the conditions of the impoverished and promote growth. Also, many of these movements and parties claimed to speak for the masses, especially the indigenous population. The cases of Venezuela and Bolivia as Pink Tide nations will be used to analyze the resurgence of socialism.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, also known as the USSR, brought with it a number of downfalls. This was especially true with regard to businesses that had originated or had ties to the country, which had been divided into 15 separate republics then. One of the organizations that suffered dearly with the fall of the Soviet Union was the startup aviation company known as Baltia Air Lines.

The first five-year plan of the Soviet union was referred to the large-scale and systematic socialist construction of the Soviet communist party, which the government in order to get rid of the backward agricultural country of the Soviet union from 1928 to 1932. The completion of the first five-year plan made the Soviet union began to change from an agricultural country to industrial country. The Soviet union preliminary built independent relatively complete national economic system, laid the material foundation for realizing the socialist industrialization. Since the new economic policies, the Soviet economy basically recovered to its pre-war level in 1925. But the modern industry of the Soviet union is still relatively

The Collapse of Soviet Union was inevitable in the Cold War which was probably the most serious change in the world politics after the two World Wars. An author named Fukuyama called the end of the Cold War as "The end of History". We can admit that the Collapse of Soviet Union was the "end" between two ideologies and super powers therefore, Communist eastern ideology had lost the war against the Western capitalist World. As a result, in 1991 the soviet union collapsed as a nation state. After a full retrospect of the war the results were because of years of economic stagnation, political corruption and the collapse of soviet communist regime which took place in the World.

The collapse of the Soviet Union had ended the communist hold on Eastern Europe and surrounding former communist states. The year 1990 had also marked the beginning of rapid economic and social transition from a communist state to a democratic market based economy. Milton Friedman coined the term shock policy, also referred to as economic liberalism, to describe the abrupt release of currency and price controls, the extraction of state subsidies, large scale privatization of former public owned assets, and immediate trade liberalization. Jeffrey Sachs further evolved Friedman’s notion to create his own coined concept, shock therapy. The first occurrence of the liberal economic concept of shock policy centred on the ideals of the University of Chicago, transpired in Chile in 1975, carried out by the military coup lead by Augusto Pinochet to initiate neoliberal pro-market reforms. Shock therapy, economic liberalism, grew in popularity in the 1970’s, becoming the common answer to battle economic crisis. This paper will examine the use of shock therapy in the transition of post- communist states, comparing and contrasting the benefits and consequences of initializing such a rapid reform. This paper will examine the state of Poland that has successfully transitioned through shock therapy to open market democracies and those who had failed to transition because of it, investigating the obstacles and drawbacks.

The eventual demise of Communism in the USSR was a direct consequence of the Soviet Union’s failure to adapt to the changes occurring in the world during the 1920’s to the 1940’s. Unlike Communist China, the USSR failed to place economic growth ahead of political reform. In this regard, Russia was unsuccessful in establishing a national identity and in instituting a stable government through popular consent of its people. Moreover, Communist Russia failed to create a national identity, ignoring the multitude of ethnic minorities existing in the USSR. Arguably, the future stability of the two previously conventional Communist countries, will reflect their ability to develop a market economy, establish a stable government, and be recognized and involved on a global scale.

Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Most of post-Soviet states got independence, Kazakhstan as well. Since then Kazakhstan started deconstruction the Soviet identity and construct “Kazakhstani” identity. Before 1991 Kazakhstan was very russified. The titular nation was in minority and native language not spoken widely.

Under Mikhail Gorbachev the Soviet Union underwent massive social, political and economic reform that drifted away from communist ideology and this ultimately lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union and failure of communism in Eastern Europe. This essay will focus on how the Perestroika reform and Glasnost policy programs as well as other external and internal pressures contributed to the failure of communism under Gorbachev. The aim of the Perestroika and Glasnost reforms was to restructure and strengthen the Soviet political and economic system and provide more freedom and democracy within the Soviet Union while strengthening Communism. However, these changes had achieved exactly what they aimed to prevent when they were first elaborated and led to the failure of communism and collapse of the Soviet Union. While focusing on the policies this essay will also focus on the major increase in nationalism that occurred in the Soviet Republics as a result of the Glasnost. External pressure from the western world was also a factor and the role that the United States and the Ronald Reagan administration played in the downfall of communism under Gorbachev will be examined. The essay will also discuss how the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the 1991 Coup d’état led to the failure of the policies and failure of communism.