Disintegration of USSR and rise of Unipolar world

Factors leading to collapse of Soviet Union and soviet communism 1985-91

The disintegration of Soviet Union marks end of an era which began with rise of Communist USSR and its eventual fall, with USA left as the lone superpower in the world.

Reasons For Disintegration of USSR

1. Weakness of Soviet Socialist economy
• Socialist economy of USSR was characterised by centralised planning. Every economic activity was under state ownership and private ownership of any means of production was not allowed. The state agencies decided what was to be produced and how much. There was no scope for private initiative in the soviet socialist economy. The workers and managers were paid meagre salaries by the state to meet their basic necessities.
• This state controlled economy was highly successful till the 1960s, however, thereafter the motivation of people declined. There was decline in standards of living of people. Production had stagnated and a serious economic crisis engulfed Russia.
2. Limitations Of Communist Political System
• In theory communism was supposed to be truly democratic, but in practice USSR had a totalitarian regime. No freedom of any kind was allowed to the citizens. They couldn’t access mass media, tv, radio etc. nobody could criticise the government.
• After death of Stalin no effective leaders could take control in USSR. Lack of transparency and accountability led to rise of corruption and inefficiency in the state system. Senior political leaders misused their powers for personal gains pushing USSR and its satellite states towards further crisis.
3. Role of Cold War
• economic pressure of Cold War competition pushed Soviet Union and satellite states to deeper crisis
• soviet leadership spent large amount of resources on arms race, space race, propaganda war fare and support to proxies
• By 1970 the Cold War competition had started crippling the soviet economy in civilian life and by 1980s crises was visible everywhere.
• failure of soviet leadership in handling the prevailing crises led to fall of communist economy and in turn fall of USSR disintegrating the Soviet Union
4. Role of Mikhael Gobrachev
• Gobrachev became the soviet president in 1985. He was a well educated and awakened man who could very well see the deep crises prevailing in USSR.
• being a true communist he was concerned about survival of communism and could anticipate that the current crises could lead to its fall
• to counter the prevailing challenges he introduced a number of reforms and adopted the policy of Glasnost and Perestroika. But the unintended consequences of his policies in turn marked death of Soviet Union.
• Gorbachev's internal reforms rested on three pillars:
• Uskoreniye: acceleration(in economy to improve GDP)
• Prestroika: restructuring (economy, bureaucracy, party etc.)
• Glasnost: transparency(freedom)
• Glasnost (openness)
• in socio-cultural matters
• control of state on tv, media, books significantly reduced
• now anybody could be criticised except Communist party
• anti Stalin movies were allowed to be released
• books condemning Stalin’s dictatorship were allowed to be published
• leaders who were convicted by Stalin for anti establishment acts were declared innocent
• political  exiles who were prohibited to enter, returned to Moscow
• 1988 law was enacted to abolish political exiles
• Gobrachev announced soviet forces wouldn’t be lent to satellite states for suppression of mass agitations & revolts
• after Chernobyl disaster 1986 newspapers & press were allowed to criticise handling of crises by state agencies
• this policy was based on the premise that popular pressure would persuade the govt to reform & take steps to fulfil people’s expectations
• Perestroika (restructuring)
• in political and social matters to ensure maximum possible participation of people and to democratise the character of institutions . It introduced a number of changes
• mark towards Market Socialism but it does not mean acceptance of capitalism, rather reconcile principle of socialism with dynamic of market capitalism.
• He eventually allowed the soviet enterprises to disengage themselves from planning system altogether and to become self-financing and self-managing units.
• economic enterprises were all public but were not to operate according to central planning committee but within market environment shaped by competition, profits and incentives.
• old soviet parliament of 1450 was replaced by new one with 2250 members. This big parliament was supposed to elect a smaller parliament of 450 members which would perform legislative responsibilities
• members of local soviet were to be elected directly by people
• factory managers were to be elected by workers
• November 1986 a number of changes were introduced in the economic matters
• activities like car repair, tv repair, family restaurants etc were allowed under private ownership so that people could avail good quality services
• quality control was taken away from factories and thereafter products were to be quality certified by an independent state agency
• automation was encouraged so that manual work could be reduced
• June 1987, new law- Law on State Enterprise was enacted which liberated factories from rigid state control.
• factory managers were given authority to decide production
• state control over raw material was also reduced
• wages of workers were linked to total production in the factories
• Impact of Glasnost and Perestroika
• these policies were well intended however they had far reaching impact in a negative way for USSR
• to get the maximum possible salaries Factories started producing costly capital goods. As a result common use items such as soap, bread, candles etc  decreased significantly from the markets
• from 1988-91 soviet economy contracted by 15%
• at the time when economic crises among people were severe, they were given freedom under Glasnost to criticise the government and come out in streets for agitations and revolts. In July 1989 a minor coal mine accident in Siberia triggered massive demonstrations everywhere when coal miners couldn’t get soap to wash themselves after their work
• constitutional republic of Soviet Union held the communist govt responsible for the crises. They started demanding greater autonomy. Soviet president Mikhael Gobrachev agreed to sign a new treaty with constituent republics on 20 august 1991. But the president was put on house arrest by the Vice President, Defence minister and other officers as they were against such a treaty.
• this incident shattered the prestige of Soviet president. Although Gobrachev was released on 21 august by the damage to reputation had already been done.
• In September 1991 Russia, Ukraine and Belarus announced dissolution of USSR and formed a Common Wealth of Independent States.
• Under pressure soviet president Gobrachev resigned and accepted the decision for dissolution of USSR. The powers of Soviet Union were transferred to Russia

Gorbachev failed to manage the reforms effectively and several kinds of reactions emerged:

• From orthodox elements of the party who were anti-reform.
• From progressive/ radical elements of the party whose leader was Boris Yeltsin. They wanted even more reform.
• From people, who were demanding immediate good results.
• The bureaucracy, fearing the loss of its power and privileges, obstructed much of the program.
• From republics of USSR, who wanted more autonomy.

Problems

• wages were now dependent on output, but since output was measured by its value in roubles, factories were tempted not to increase overall output, but to concentrate on more expensive goods and reduce output of cheaper goods. Basic consumable goods were in very short supply, and the queues in the towns got longer.
• Disillusion with Gorbachev and his reforms rapidly set in, and, having had their expectations raised by his promises, people became outraged at the shortages. Public support lost soon as they did not see any immediate benefit.

Gorbachev’s reforms did more to hasten the fall of the Soviet Union than they did to save it. By loosening controls over the people and making reforms to the political and economic elites, the Soviet government appeared weak and vulnerable to the Soviet people. They used their newfound powers to organize and critique the government, and in 1991, they successfully ended Soviet rule.

Hence Gorbachev’s reform contributed to the fall of the USSR which was also accelerated by other factors like stagnating economy of the USSR, Soviet war in Afghanistan, oil glut, Chernobyl disaster, President Reagan’s attitude etc.

Impact of Disintegration of USSR

• the concept of second world came to an end and the world emerged into a unipolar order with USA as the lone superpower
• Cold War came to an end immediately because successor of USSR Russia was not in a position to compete against the capitalist bloc
• divison of Europe going on since the Second World War was no longer visible. A new spirit of cooperation had started emerging.
• process of European unification gradually gained momentum as a large number of nations from the former Eastern bloc started becoming members of NATO and EU.
• 1999 Hungary , Czech Republic and Poland joined NATO. 2004 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania joined NATO. Croatia and Albania joined in 2009.
• communism lost its international appeal and was no longer in position to compete against capitalism
• spirit of democracy was greatly strengthened after fall of communism and disintegration of USSR because duly elected regimes came to power in many former countries of USSR and its satellite nations.
• disintegration of USSR enabled China to learn a number of lessons to make communist as successful state philosophy. China did not make the same mistakes and strategically carried out economic and political reforms, as a result communism survived in China even after its fall in Eastern Europe.

Political Changes in Eastern Europe 1989-2001

End of Cold War and US ascendancy in world as the lone super power

Ascendancy of USA

Disintegration of USSR marked ascendancy of USA as the lone superpower in the world. The emergence of USA as the most powerful nation was not just a result of Cold War but a culmination of long drawn out process which had taken shape since American war of independence.

1. American war of independence in 1776 marked emergence of USA as the 1st successful democratic nation in the world
2. victory of American union in the American civil war further intensified the process of ascendancy as during the war the union was declared non dissolvable and was able to raise a strong army
3. economic reconstruction initiated after the war in 1870s and thereafter further transformed USA into a major economic power
4. world wars greatly benefitted USA as on one hand the former big powers in international sphere Britain and France lost their influence making USA and USSR as the left super powers, on the other hand, the USA economy witnessed significant growth as a result of the war
5. Geographical location of USA far away from continental Europe and Asia enable it to prevent any kind of damage on soil which happened in other European countries who had to go in for years of reconstruction after the war. USA didn’t have to focus attention towards such reconstruction and hence could continue to grow and progress.
6. cosmopolitan nature of American culture which attracted talents from across the world enabled it to March ahead in fields of research and innovation
7. political stability in USA as a result of two party system
8. institutionalised politico-administrative system ensured USA had an organised systemic way of functioning. Important decision were taken at institutional level and not at individual level thus bringing in more efficiency at both internal and external from keeping American interests in mind
9. individualistic American culture encouraged its citizens to work hard for progress because most of the MNCs emerged here
10. mass media- radio, tv, books, pamphlets, newspaper played an essential role in aggressively propagating American culture across the world and thus raising American prestige
11. USA successfully used multilateral platforms like UNO, WHO, IMF, World bank etc to further its aims

Cold War enabled ascendancy of USA when all capitalist nations started following its lead to prevent rise of communism

New world order 

• Collapse of soviet union start of us hegemony 1991 
• Started from end of WW 2 
• Emerged later as hegemony 
• Aug 1990 iraq invaded kuwait occupying and annexing it . Diplomatic attempts for liberation failed UN decided to use force change from cold war time in world order US President George Bush called it New world order . Coalition force 660000 from 34 countries fought against iraq and defeated it in the First gulf War . This  UN Operation Desert Storm extremely American 75% american forces .  Gulf war revealed vast tech gap btw US military capability to other states - smart bombs, computer war ,video game war shown on tv across globe 
• William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton 
• Emphasised domestic matters than foreign policy issues and won twice 
• US withdrawn to internal affairs no intervention in world politics 
• Focus soft issues democracy promotion, climate change and world trade than hard issues of military power and security 
• Not afraid to use military. 1999 response to Yugoslavian extremities on Albanian pop Kosovo air forces of NATO bombarded targets in Yugoslavia 
• Response to bombing of US embassies in Nairobi,Kenya and Dar es salaam, Tanzania 1998 by al Qaida Clinton launched operation Infinite series of cruise missile attacks on al Qaeda targets in sudan and afghanistan 
• US didn't bother of UN sanctions or provisions of int law 
• 9/11and global war on terror 
• 19 hijackers frm arab countries took control of 4  american commercial aircrafts and flew them into imp building in us one airliner each into north and south towers of world trade centres in new York 3rd inti Pentagon building in Arlington headquarter of us defence dept and 4th bound for Capitol building found in fields of Pennsylvania
• Killed nearly 3000 people 
• US response swift ans ferocious 
• As part of Global war on terror US launched operation enduring freedom against all those suspected behind these attacks al Qaeda and taliban regimes. 
• Taliban was easily overthrown but their remnants have remained potent 
• US forces made arrests all over world often without gobt knowledge , transporting and detaining them in secret prisons Guantanamo bay etc 
• Iraq invasion 
• 19 march 2003 us invasion iraq operation Iraqi freedom 
• Joined by 49 countries coalition of the willing after un mandate to approve it 
• Purpose to prevent iraq frm developing weapons of mass destruction but sinC no evidence of same found anticipated attack was for other reasons of controlling iraq oilfields and installing us friendly regime 
• Insurgency against us occu ignited in Iraq
• Hegemony-politics is about power and in world politics countries want to gain and retain power in form of military domination,eco per,pol clout and cult superiority. Soviet collapse us remained alone power from bipolar world now became unipolar described as int system with only 1 centre of power called hegemony 
• Leadership or predominance of one state 
• Seen as military preponderance 
• Us hegemony based on military superiority in both absolute and relative terms. Absolute implying capability to reach any point on planet accurately lethally and in real time. Unparalleled as no par in world can match it . Increasing emphasis on military research and development 
• Imperial powers throughout history have used military power for accomplishing 4 objectives-to conquer,deter,punish and police 
• American vulnerabilities Not been able to force Iraqi people into submitting to us occupation
• Hegemony as structural power 
• An open world eco requires hegemon or dominant pwr to support it's creation and existence 
• Has ability and desire to est Norma for order and sustain global structure for its own advantage bt it's competitions also utilise the same system to progress 
• Evi frm role of US in providing global public goods eg fresh air roads, sea lanes of communication 
• Naval pwr of hegemon ensure naVigation freedom and dictates laws of sea in int waters 
• Internet direct outcome of us military research project of 1950 . Relies on global netron of satellites most owned and controlled by USA . 
• USA present in all parts of the world in all actors of world economy and in all areas of technology . Controls max. world trade 
• Bretton woods system est by US. World bank, IMF, WTO products of US hegemony
• Hegemony as soft power 
• Capacity to manufacture consent -class ascendancy in social,political,and ideological spheres 
• When dominant class or country wins consent of dominated classes to view the world in manner favourable to ascendancy of dominant class 
• Ideological resources to shape behaviour of competing and lesser pwrs
• Lure of american culture soft pwr attribute by persuasion rather than coercion
• Constraints on american pwr
• Institutional architecture of american state itself as dictionary of pwr btw 3 branches of govt hinders unrestrained and immoderate exercise of american power 
• Open nature of american society 
• One org which can moderate american influence NATO

India's relationship with US 

• Start with opening of indian economy and flooding of foreign investments frm USA as well 
• 2 imp sectors technological dimension and indian american diaspora 
• Increasing convergence of idea btw india and america 

Impact of US ascendancy

1. Emergence of Unipolar world with USA as only superpower transforming nature of international relations and its role in them
2. American national interest started dominating world politics and were pushed into international sphere through both war and peace
3. American hegemony was est as a result of this sovereignty of many nations was violated eg Afghanistan, Iran etc
4. international institutions like UNO, WHO,  etc were significantly influenced by America and couldn’t function independently anymore defeating the purpose for which they were created
5. unipolar world witnessed intensified violence as rise of terrorism and extremism in response to American dominance in affairs of west Asia, Middle East.
6. capitalism was accepted as world system and increasing in popularity
7. trade wars with rival interests USA v/S China, v/S Russia. Tariff wars, quotas and embargoes etc sanctions on countries with conflicting interest Iran, Russia, North Korea. CAATSA
8. multipolar world order emerging threatened by aggressive China and Russia

Post communist regimes 

• transition from authoritarian socialist system to democratic capitalist system 
• model of transition in russia, central asia and east europe influenced by world bank and IMF as shock therapy varying in intensity and speed among former second world countries 
• total shift to cap economy with private ownership as dominant pattern 
• privatisation of state assets adn corporate ownership
• collective farms replaced by capitalism in agri 
• change in external orientation of these eco 
• dev via trade and move to free trade 
• free trade regime and foreign direct investment became new engines of change 
• openness to foreign investment along with financial opening up or deregulation and currency convertibility 
• break up of existing trade alliance among soviet bloc countries and their gradual absorption in western economic systm 

consequence of this shocktherapy 

• didnt lead to the promised utopia of mass consumption brought ruins to economies and disasters upon people 
• russia- state controlled industrial complex collapsed and since restrcuturing was done by market forces and private companies entire industries disappeared 
• value of russian currency declined 
• collective farm systm disintegrated 
• privatisation led to new disparities divided btw rich and poor 
• construction of democratic inst not prioritised like eco tranformation leading to emergence of authoritarian govt behind guise of democracy
• most economies started reviving after 10 yrs  since 2000 because of export of their natural resources like minerals, oil, natural gas and some amout of manufacturing started 
• these areas were engulfed in conflict throughout and have not been able to recover from them completely 
• countries such as afghanistan and western asian countires have faced disturbance in political and social life for decades 
• emegence of sectarian conflicts and indigenous vs foreign clashes 
• become zone of competetion with discovery of vast resources such that countries like US wanted military bases in central  asian countries  
• NATO intervention and bombing of Yugoslavia followed inter ethnic civil war