The Collapse Of The Soviet Union

Fashion is a clear reflection of the social, economic, political and cultural period. More and more people are becoming concerned with their style and more importantly, how it affects their wallet. This mindset has paved the way for the fast fashion industry to flourish. Fast fashion is “clothing [being produced] at increasingly low prices, prices so low that many consumers consider this clothing to be disposable… the clothing equivalent of fast food.” (Claudio) Consumers are so caught up on the fact that they are getting a bargain, that they totally disregard the uncomfortable reality surrounding the dark side of mass-consumer fashion. The fast fashion industry has created a culture of mindless consumerism.

Fast fashion has become the pinnacle of the fashion industry because it is very profitable. Cheap material and cheap overseas labor has made places like Walmart, Zara, and H&M twice as profitable as any retail store (Cline, “The Clothes Make the Movement”, 21). The average American household spends one thousand and seven hundred dollars on apparel every year. One third of the average household expense is claimed by women aged sixteen and older who spend over five hundred dollars on clothing and shoes annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics). That dollar amount translates into an average of sixty-eight items of clothing and seven pairs of shoes per the average American (Cline, “The Clothes Make the Movement”, 21). Cheap textile materials quickly fall apart, lose color and shape, and are replaced by new fashion trends.

Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a

The collapse of the Soviet Union ended one era of American Security Concerns, but it gave rise to another more extensive era. This era would be marked by concern over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction throughout former Soviet countries and other unstable nations. Every president from George H.W. Bush to Obama would mark this issue as a key threat to the nation’s security. The true question is what would each of these presidents do about the threat. Since World War II the United States has filled the role of the “global police” opposing injustices and neutralizing threats throughout the world, and the threat of devastatingly powerful weapons falling into unstable hands could be treated no differently. With this in mind

The fall of the Soviet Union, rise of democratic capitalism, and the emergence of the Internet are all important attributes that define the year 2000 as the end of one period in history and the beginning of another. The year 2000 proves to be a cut-off date in history because it explicitly shows a shift toward the continuing globalization and integrations of economies, politics, people, and cultures all around the world. This process of globalization leads to increasing interdependence among countries and growing influence of the United States of America, which during this time period was the only superpower left in the world.

Following the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, questions regarding what the new world order would began to arise. In the article published in 1993 “The Clash of Civilizations?”, Samuel Huntington predicts that the conflicts of the new world order would be between civilization and based in culture, rather than in ideology or economics (22). In his paper, he identifies seven (or possibly eight) civilizations that will interact with each other, provided six reasons as to why these civilizations will clash, recognizes the idea that civilizations other than the West are on the rise and makes suggestions as to how the West should act if his initial is to become true. Since the publication of his article over 22 years ago, Huntington

Fairchilds argues that debates over women’s political rights were neither the only nor the most significant causes for the emergence of Revolutionary regulations of dress. She suggests that these regulations emerged due to the policy of consumption and consumer goods, which was shaped by two contradictory notions: the notion that consumers had the right to buy what they wanted and the notion that goods had symbolic, formative and didactic traits that reflected and shaped the consumer’s personality. Through the examination of the Old Regime luxury debates, Fairchilds explains the beginnings of these ideas and how they influenced Revolutionary policies towards dress. In addition, she suggests that the concept that fashion reflects an individual’s

Choose one of these theories and explain how it relates to the collapse of the USSR, and assess and justify whether it relates to its internal or external foreign policy.

In December of 1991, the world was shocked, of once seeing a super power that was dominating the world beside the United State of America. Moreover, The Soviet Union sudden collapse, which was composed of fifteen countries, exposed the downfall of the political and economic rule of Communism, which was put in place by the Bolshevik revolution in November of 1917. Many westerners predicted and or were happy that the Communistic ruled country finally saw it’s ending, which left only one dominate nation, United State of America. The arms race with the USA seemed to be too much for the USSR, as their economy fell into turmoil. A strong power in the world always needs a strong economy, however Gorbachev changed a strong economy into a staggering economy about to collapse. Another reason why westerners could see the collapse of the Soviet Union in the near future was because of the external factors that played in, for example the Reagan administration, the Afghanistan crisis and the revolutions that took place in 1989. Additionally, the internal factors which were the corruption inside the Soviet Union government as well as the attempted Coup d’état of 1991. All these reasons played a major role in the shocking but relieving collapse of the Soviet Union. Ardent yet inhuman, Gorbachev efforts of reforming the communistic government seemed promising at first, but a streamline of events led to the uneventful collapse of the Soviet Union.

With the demise of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, the government model of a totalitarian state led socialism was utterly discredited and thus popular opinion is largely against the relevance of Marxist theory in the 21st century. As a result we are left with the alternative, capitalism, as the pinnacle of human social organization and dialectically the end of human history. The fact that this system has proven to be efficient at industrial development and the allocation of resources, is not up for debate, however many of the flaws that Marx had criticised still exist today. This is the problem that keeps Marxism relevant in contemporary society. Key aspects of capitalist society have been proven to be unstable, tension between the workers and the ownership class has risen. Both are products of the inhumane economics system that is the status quo today.

Third arrow is the most difficult to launch as it touches in the structures and regulations that have protected bested interest groups.

We often overlook the real causes of the downfall of the Soviet empire and its hegemony, and simply tie it to the fact that they were communist, dictatorial regimes. However, this is not entirely true. There were many factors that resulted in the demise of this socialist conglomerate, and East Germany in particular. The GDR was a special case in that it was racked by some of the worst economic circumstances that any of the Eastern bloc faced, and as result, became the first to fall. Such assumptions compel us to draw equivalencies between the GDR and other communist countries like Yugoslavia, even though East Germany was at a much more disadvantageous position. The East German military also had to provide the bulk of the non-Soviet forces in all Warsaw Pact military plans. This forced the GDR government to forcibly conscript large numbers of their population and spend vast quantities of their funds on military hardware. These elements combined to start the GDR on a slippery slope towards default, and economic turmoil.

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.

Since the commencement of the Czar regime to the present-day Federation, Russia has known true power. From Ivan the Terrible who had people boiled, hanged, and thrown from walls; to Josef Stalin who was responsible for the slaughter of millions of Russian citizens in the Great Purge, demonstrations of power have always had their place within Russian history.

Social and cultural changes are major determinants of emerging fashions. However, they are themselves affected by the other drivers of change that include globalization of world markets and accessibility of more sophisticated communications technologies. The latter has provided people with faster and wider access to more ideas and influences from other cultures and societies, driving demand for wider choice in fashion products.