Ukraine : An Unending Cycle Of Corruption

One can easily admit that the Party had failed to properly economically plan the needs of each state. The Soviet Union economy was complex and massive, it became an impossible task for the state planners to manage, as they did not want to grant and create more managerial levels that would proceed to the local level resulting in failed timely attempts to the constant changes the economy was going through. Since the Soviet economy was based on state planning, it failed in encouraging innovation and motivating productivity. Managers would also alter numbers in order to produce the quotas that they were required to meet. The growth of the Soviet economy had been in a constant decline since the 1950’s and this progressed to the 1980’s. This was a clear sign that the Soviet economy was in need of a complete economic overhaul. Gorbachev succeeded power in March, 1985 and became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. His main goal was to revive the Soviet economy, and he strongly believed that success was tied to loosening the governments control and creating a system that included less government intervention and more freedom to allow private initiatives. This new market economy would allow for private enterprise, which what Gorbachev believed would create more innovation. For the first time since 1920’s, individuals were able to own and create businesses.

The many long-term internal causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union centralized around weaknesses in their economy. They had an inflexible central planning system, the inability to modernize, and the inefficiency in their agriculture production. Sometime around the 1970's the computer and automation revolution had emerged. This revolution took over the West, but practically missed the Soviet Union, except in the military sector (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev's goal in economic restructuring was to create a separation between the economic and the political. The major changes began with the legalization of private farming and business co-operatives, and the allowing of foreign company ownership over Soviet enterprises (Baylis &Smith, 2001) All of Gorbachev's ideas on economic restructuring backfired on him since the price levels were inconsistent, and a sense of social confusion about the future of their state was created.

Amid Russian Revolution years there is the chance to watch the Russian economy experiencing a few basic moves, including a portion of the most exceedingly bad things that can happen to a nation. There was war and civil war. The economy endured monetary breaking down, separation, and starvation. There was a breakdown of state limit: government prohibited Vodka.

Despite the evidence that shows that the leadership during WWI was the main cause of the Revolution, some historians argue that the peasants freedom from serfdom was the primary cause of the Russian Revolution.Moreover, they claim that even though serfs were freed from serfdom but they were not given a sufficient amount of rights or opportunity to improve the circumstances that they were faced with during serfdom thus leading in their revolt against the government.Although not all opportunities were given to the ex-serfs immediately they were given a substantial amount of leeway and opportunity”. “the introduction of representative institutions and the conferral of civil rights on the entire population in 1905),.... Vertical social mobility

In the 7th century, a central Asian Turkish tribe joined with the local Slavic community to create the first Bulgarian State. This state quickly fell to the Ottoman Empire, struggling to fight for independence for centuries until 1908 when autonomy was finally achieved. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) took over Bulgaria in 1949, and it wasn’t until 1990 that the country was an independent nation again. Since the fall of communism Bulgaria has been working towards democracy and a free market economy, though they are often hindered by object poverty and corruption, as this essay will further discuss later. Despite these negative aspects the country managed to join the North American Trade Association (NATO) in 2004 and the

The three big economic goals of Bulgaria are economic freedom, growth, and equity. Economic freedom has been

In the 1970’s and 1980’s The Soviet Union was very stable. It seemingly was strong politically and was acquiring even greater power and influence. But in reality there were many economic problems for the Soviet Empire. The central pillar of Soviet Economy was central planning and subsequent lack of individual creativity, lack of incentives for increased productivity. According to Soviet worker, the government pretended that they paid people and people pretended that they worked. The system was based on lies, it seemingly was successful but in reality it was failing.

The summer of 1988, nearly a decade after the Iranian revolution with the war against Iraq coming to an end, the Iranian government committed an act of mass genocide, killing five thousand political prisoners overnight. The event is not particularly known due to the Iranian government’s substantial efforts to make sure the news never covered the event. With what started as the Khomeini regime, has over time grown into an empire equivalent to a religious dictatorship. The use of forceful power by the Iranian government to mask the events of the 1988 Massacre and the 2009 Green Movement has tarnished their reputation of being a credible regime.

After joining the EU political institutions and transitional justice received much attention. The European commission monitors Romania, and according to the economist, the Commission’s new report stated, the new current government led by Victor Ponta, “has implemented ‘necessary and long awaited legislative changes’ while also improving the cooperation between the judicial institutions and the ministry of justice, says the commission.” And according to Europolitics, “Romania has made good progress in the reform of its judicial system and in the fight against corruption under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) established in 2007 during the country’s accession to the EU.” After accession, Romania has combated corruption on many levels, including passing a lustration law that soon was rejected. Due to the historical nature of Romania’s laws, it is difficult to fight corruption, when according to a survey of Romanians; they find it a part of their everyday life. According to the European Commission, there has been much progress in legislative and judicial reforms, “The action taken by the key

It is well known that there is widespread conflict, human rights violations and corruption in Africa. The international community has failed to act because they are not enabled with financial resources or the power to force sovereign nations to act in accordance with basic and universal civil rights. As a result, African citizens are suffering from the actions of the nations around the world and then are abandoned to help themselves. In East Africa, widespread drought and famine were preventable but ignored and starvation is wide spread in the region. Sierra Leone continues to fight conflicts after a civil war over the diamond industry, while children are employed by the government as soldiers. In Nigeria, already limited access to fresh

“Corruption is when people in positions of entrusted power abuse their power for their own personal gains [or to fulfill the agendas of the group they represent]” (Transparency International). Lord Acton, a nineteenth century historian, argued that power is the root cause of corruption. The more power one has, the more corrupt one is likely to become ("Biography of Lord Acton."). Although some commentators argue that there is no correlation between power and corruption, however Lord Acton was right because power makes individuals egocentric, makes the powerful less sympathetic towards those who are inferior, and makes a person hypocrite.

Results from BEEPS and the EBRD have also shown a direct negative correlation between levels of corruption and various economic and social indicators such as investment and growth, tax payments, poverty, inequality, and the credibility of the state. Together, this empirical evidence indicates the massive, negative impact that results from both types of corruption and identifies corruption as one of the leading causes of transition failure.

People came to accept that the faults of Yeltsin's "democrats" by the collapse of the USSR and drop in living standards. The democrats were to blame for the series of crises of the 1990s, and above all for the serious crisis of 1998 with the collapse of the ruble. Democratic models of political order lost their appeal while others wanted to readopt Communism or anything that would improve the overall quality of life. Hence, concepts of freedom and human rights were once more relegated to the margins of people's thinking becoming less democratic.

In April of this year at the height of the Ukraine crisis, the Washington Post polled more than 2,000 Americans. The survey asked respondents two questions: 1.) What action would you like the U.S to take in Ukraine and 2.) Where is Ukraine located on the map? Some placed Ukraine in Australia, sub-Saharan Africa, and even Alaska. However, the results revealed and even more surprising truth; the less Americans knew about Ukraine’s location, the more they wanted the U.S to intervene. Essentially, ignorance begets action. This confirms and all- too-familiar phenomenon that isn’t limited to U.S foreign policy. We’ve seen the same narrative play out in the ongoing debate regarding the use of genetically modified crops in the U.S food supplies. The number of voices on the subject is growing while the amount of knowledge stagnates. To address the issue, we must first locate the origin of myths surrounding genetically modified crops. Then, establish some borders on the debate to ensure it remains educated and accurate. And finally, come to a decision regarding what direction the U.S should take next.

Imagine a world where daily planned blackouts and shorter workdays were implemented to conserve energy. For people living in Venezuela and Libya, this is very much the norm. In addition to being two of the most corrupt and politically unstable governments in the world, Venezuela and Libya are plagued with problems surrounding their energy sectors. This is surprising, since they are both globally known for being oil-rich countries. Venezuela had 300 billion barrels of oil reserves in 2016, passing oil-rich Saudi Arabia at 266 billion barrels, Iran at 158 billion, and Iraq at 142 billion. Libya on the other hand, had about 50 billion barrels of reserves in 2015 (OPEC, 2016). So, where does the oil go and why do Venezuelans and Libyans suffer energy poverty if they live in oil-rich regions of the world? Nearly all of it is exported out of the country for profit, leaving many of the local citizens in these two countries empty handed. Corruption revolving around these countries’ oil exports has pairs with political instability and leads to a plethora of economic, political, and social problems.