Effects of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Reforms on the USSR : –
🔹 Gorbachev promised to reform the economy – catch up with the West -yet Soviet union collapsed.
🔹 The communist party members felt that their power and privileges were eroding.
🔹 His reforms gave rise to nationalism and the desire for sovereignty within various republics ( including Russia and the Baltic Republics – Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania ).
🔹 Even the ordinary people felt alienated from the central Asians and from each other and felt they were paying too high a price to stay within the Soviet Union.
Declaration of the end of the Soviet Union : –
🔹 In 1991, the countries of Eastern Europe under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin and Russia, Ukraine and Belarus announced the end of the Soviet Union.
Disintegration of the Soviet Union : –
🔹 The ongoing conflict in the republics of the Soviet Union played an important role in the disintegration of the country. The central authority of the Soviet Union was weakened by the struggle of the republics. One by one the republics of the Soviet Union became independent. The Soviet Union disintegrated on 25 December 1991.
🔹 Out of the 15 republics that included the Soviet Union as a ‘ multinational state ‘ , 12 of them together formed the ‘ Commonwealth of Independent States ‘ ( CIS ) . The three Baltic republics ( Latvia , Estonia and Lithuania ) did not join it.
Timeline of Disintegration of the Soviet Union : –
🔸 1985 March :- Mikhail Gorbachev elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ; appoints Boris Yeltsin as the head of the communist party in Moscow ; initiates a series of reforms in the Soviet Union.
🔸 1988 :- Independence movement began in Lithuania , later spread to Estonia and Latvia.
🔸 1989 October :- Soviet Union declares that the Warsaw Pact members are free to decide their own futures ; Berlin Wall falls in November.
🔸 1900 February :- Gobarchev strips the Soviet Communist Party of its 72 – year – long monopoly on power by calling on the Soviet Parliament ( Duma ) to permit multi – party politics.
🔸 1990 March :- Lithuania becomes the first of the 15 Soviet republics to declare its independence.
🔸 1990 June :- Russian Parliament declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
🔸 1991 August :- The Communist Party hardliners stage on abortive coup against Gorbachev.
🔸 1991 September :- Three Baltic republics of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania become UN members ( later join NATO in March 2004 ).
🔸 1991 December :- Russia , Belarus and Ukraine decide to annul the 1992 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and establish the commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ) ; Armenia , Azerbaijan , Moldova , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the CIS ( Georgia joins later in 1993 ) ; Russia takes over the USSR seat in the United Nations .
🔸 1991 December 25 :- Gorbachev resigns as the President of the Soviet Union ; the end of the Soviet Union ‘.
Reasons for the disintegration of Soviet Union in 1991 : –
- Socialist system.
- To involve in arms race.
- Internal weaknesses of political – economic institutions.
- Backwardness of Soviet Union in comparison to Western countries.
- Reform policies of Gorbachev.
- Desperation of freedom from socialist system.
- Military interference of USSR in Afghanistan.
- Lack of democracy and freedom of speech.
- one party system which was not accountable to the people.
- dominance of Russia and neglect of the interest of other Republics.
- high expenditure on Defence.
- low expenditure on infrastructure and Technology.
The main reasons of disintegration of the Soviet Union : –
🔸 Soviet System Political Limits :-
🔹 The Soviet system is very bureaucratic , concentrated and autocratic , which made the lives of its citizens very difficult.
🔹 Lack of democracy and lack of freedom of expression suppressed the voice of people who expressed their dissatisfaction through jokes and cartoons.
🔹 Most institutions of the Soviet Union needed improvement. The Communist Party , representing a party system of the Soviet Union , had tight control over all institutions and was irresponsible.
🔸 Economic limits : –
🔹 In the arms race , the Soviet Union managed to match the US from time to time but at great cost. The Soviet Union lagged behind the west in technology , infrastructure ( e.g. transport , power ) and most importantly in fulfilling the political or economic aspirations of the citizens .
🔹 The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 weakened the system even further. Through wages continued to grow , productivity and technology fell considerably behind that of the west. This led to shortages in all consumer goods. Food imports increased every year . The Soviet economy was faltering in the late 1970s and became stagnant .
🔹 The Soviet economy used most of its resources for nuclear and military weapons and Eastern Europe for many of its hanger countries for many development . This created a huge economic burden which the Soviet system could not bear.
Result of the disintegration of the USSR : –
🔹 The end of the cold war and of ideological confrontations.
🔹 Rise of a unipolar world with the hegemony of the USA.
🔹 End of arms race in the world and the possibility of a new peaceful world order.
🔹 The end of the Warsaw Pact . Change in the balance of power of the world.
🔹 Power relations in world politics changed : The USA became the sole superpower . ( unipolar world )
🔹 Capitalist economy became the dominant economic system internationally. Institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund became powerful advisors to all these countries.
🔹 Emergence of 15 sovereign countries from the erstwhile Soviet Union.
🔹 Russia inherited the USSR status as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Consequences of the disintegration of Soviet Union in world politics : –
- It led to the end of the cold war and ideological confrontation in the world.
- The disintegration left open the world space to be dominated by the sole superpower.
- The world is now dominated by the USA.
- Emergence of a unipolar world.
- The power relations in world politics have changed and this has led to the dominance of capitalist system , free market economy , globalisation.
- The end of the Soviet bloc paved the way for the emergence of many new sovereign countries each with their own identity interest and economic and political relations.
- new geo- political alliances.
- Nuclear disarniament and new security arrangements have been initiated.
- The power struggle at the United Nations and its Security Council has been decreased to a certain extent.
- Collapse of the Warsaw Pact and many of its members joining NATO.
- Power shifted from Soviet Centre which was Russia dominated to its 15 Republics .
- Rise of CIS.
The United States of America benefited from the dissolution of the Soviet Union : –
🔹 The Cold War ended and America became the only supreme power.
🔹 The capitalist economy became an internationally dominated economic system .
The cost of arms race : –
🔹 The Soviet Union gave a tough fight to the US in the arms race , but in terms of technology and infrastructure , it lagged behind the western countries. In terms of productivity and quality , it lagged far behind the countries of the West.
Shock Therapy : –
🔹 The disintegration of the Soviet Union resulted in the fall of communism, followed by a painful transition in the former communist regimes, that is, Russia, East European countries and Central Asia from an authoritarian socialist system to a liberal democratic capitalist system. This model of transformation influenced by international financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF came to be regarded as ‘Shock Therapy’.
Consequences of Shock Therapy : –
🔹 Collective farms were replaced by private farming and capitalism in agriculture.
🔹 Privatisation of state controlled institutions / assets and corporate ownership patterns introduced.
🔹 Industries were put up for sale to private individuals and companies which were brought by the bureaucrats.
🔹 Due to the withdrawal of the old social welfare system and government subsidies pushed large sections of people into poverty.
🔹 Rise of the Mafia which started controlling economic activities and privatisation led to new disparities. Russia was divided between the rich and poor regions which increased economic inequality.
🔹 The constitutions were drafted in a hurry ; most of the sovereign new nations had a strong executive president with widest possible powers that rendered the elected Parliament relatively weak.
Areas of tensions and conflicts in the former Soviet republics : –
🔹 In Russia , two republics , Chechnya and Dagestan have had violent secessiongt movements.
🔹 In Central Asia Kazakhstan witnessed a civil war that went on for 10 years till 2001.
🔹 Azerbaijan’s province of Nagorno – Karabakh wants to secede and join Armenia . Armenia Azerbaijan armed conflict in July 2020.
🔹 In eastern Europe Czechoslovakia peacefully divided into two countries The Baltic region : In 1990 Lithuania declared itself independent from the Soviet Union ; in 2004 Estonia Latvia and Lithuania became members of NATO.
India’s present relationship with the former republics of Soviet Union : –
🔹 India has cordial diplomatic relations with Russia and the former Republics of the Soviet Union ; the foreign policy is based upon mutual trust interest and peaceful coexistence which includes collective security. greater regionalism and democratic notion of decision making in international bodies like the United Nations Organisation.
🔹 India has benefited from CIS and on issues like Kashmir , energy supplies , sharing information on international terrorism and access to Central Asia . Russia , Ukraine , Kazakhstan , Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are India’s major trading partner.
Unipolar World : –
🔹 Unipolarity means that there is a sole superpower that is dominant in the international system. Unipolarity means that at present the USA is the only on its military powar and economic prowess , but also on its cultural presence. It means the domination of single power in the world example USA in world politics.
New World System : –
🔹 In August 1990 , Iraq invaded Kuwait and captured it and disturbed the peace of the Gulf region . The entire international community appealed to Iraq to free Kuwait , but all diplomatic efforts to accept Iraq failed. As a result , the United Nations declared Iraq an invader and liberated Kuwait.
🔹 It is a dramatic turn for the United Nations that after the Cold War era , the United Nations was able to decide on the Iraq matter so easily , US President George Bush described it as the ‘ New World System “.