The Collapse of the Soviet Union - Essay Example

The Soviet Union is the current day Russia. The Soviet Union is also known as the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics. USSR is known to have been in existence from 1922 to 1991. Despite being a powerful country, there is a range of factors that led to its collapse. The fall of the USSR was triggered by the diplomatic duel pitting the fifteen independent states that constituted the USSR. The countries that met on the 25th day of December to pass resolutions of withdrawing from the USSR include Tajikistan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (Dobbs, 2008). Other countries that had earlier declared their withdrawal from the USSR are Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Historians affirm that the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted due to radical reforms that had been pioneered by the Soviet President, Gorbachev Mikhail.

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Factors that contributed to the break-up of the Soviet Union are both internal and external. The first external factors are the influence of the government of the United States of America. The United States contributed to the collapse of USSR through military provocation. During the administration of President Reagan, the United States of America viewed the USSR to be a threat to the stability of its government and had the quest to quench the aggression of the USSR. President Reagan increased their military spending besides introducing a space-based system to protect the United States from any nuclear attack (Gottfried & Reim, 2002). The USSR saw that the United States was provoking its government leading to an increase in the government spending. The disintegration of Yugoslavia further contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia was one of the strongest allies of the USSR. Most of the imports into Yugoslavia were traced from USSR. The revolutions that were taking place in 1989-1991 also weakened the communist system in USSR (Langley, 2006). Notably, there were revolutions experienced in Germany, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. The revolutions witnessed in the countries acted as a recipe for the Soviet Union since it was also guided by the communist political system.

The first internal cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union is corruption. Corruption served to weaken the political and economic system. The economic reforms that were undertaken by Glasnost unearthed high levels of corruption that were perpetuated by the former leaders. Consequently, the communist regime of government lost its legitimacy. The attempted coup in 1991 led to the destabilization of the government (Bellamy, 2007). The coup was attempted by the officials of the Soviet government to change the political system of the USSR. The leaders of the coup had the motive of centralizing the system of governance as opposed to the then system where every country that constituted the USSR had its level of influence in its political affairs. Each member of the USSR was semi-autonomous of the formulation of its policies.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, violence broke out. The violence was based on ethnicity, political boundaries, and economic wars. The attaining of independence of the eleven neighboring countries was a recipe for the destabilization of the entire Soviet Union. Wars were mainly witnesses within the boundaries of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and that of Azerbaijan and Armenia (Harkins & Harkins, 2008). Each country has the quest to maintain its supremacy besides expanding its borders, a factor that led to conflicts being witnessed.

Realism is a worldview that best explains the collapse of the USSR. Realist argues that the world has never achieved stability and the chaos that are seen in the world are part of the global culture that promotes confusion. Therefore, the disintegration of the USSR is part of the global culture that has never been peaceful. The views of the realist are valid until the present day as there instability and chaos that are still being witnessed in many countries.

The impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on theorists and practitioners of international relations

After the break-up of the USSR, the major dilemma that arose to the international political professionals was the mechanism that was to be laid by the disintegrated parties to formulate foreign policies that could enable them to be allies. Many political scientists were in limbo on the role that was to be played by the United States in developing partners from the disintegrated countries and the ability to forge trade activities in the respective countries. Additionally, there was a dilemma on the nuclear deterrence and the use of nuclear weapons during the violence that resulted in its collapse. Some scholars were in limbo on how the nuclear weapons could have led to further destruction of the counties if they went to violent t war against each other (Graham, 2013). The economic transition amidst the claims of a failing economy was also a dilemma situation that was technical to define.

The collapse of the USSR had a direct influence on the foreign policy in the world. The mature democracies in the world no longer supported the right-wing groups that exerted authoritarian rule on their subjects. For example, the United States severed its relations with many countries in Latin America owing to the authoritarian system of governance. The communist parties in many countries lost their legitimacy, and there is a rise in democratic institutions across many countries in the world (Aleksievich & Shayevich, 2016). Though the breakdown of the Soviet Union, China restructured its economic system to resonate with the economic system that was established by the former USSR. Consequently, corruption levels in the country reduce and its economy accelerated. Furthermore, there was an increase in the membership of the European Union.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has also had an impact on the current US foreign policy. Currently, the United States only forges ties with the countries that respect the human rights and have a democratic system of governance. The United States views democracy and compliance with human rights as a recipe for maintaining political orders and affirming a conducive environment for economic growth.

There are similarities between the war on terror and the cold war. The United States of America orchestrated the two wars. During the cold war, the United States of America provoked the USSR into increased its funding for their military. Subsequently, the United States succeeded with the Soviet Union collapsing and the United States remaining as the global superpower. The war on terror was also orchestrated by the Bush administration through the invasion of Iraq (Plokhy, 2015). The primary motive of the United States was to finish the extremists and maintain its role as the world super power. In the two cases, the United States used military sleuth to stamp its authority as the global superpower.

References

Aleksievich, S., & Shayevich, B. (2016). Secondhand time: The last of the Soviets.

Bellamy, C. (2007). Absolute war: Soviet Russia in the Second World War : a modern history. London: Macmillan.

Dobbs, M. (2008). Down with Big Brother: The fall of the Soviet empire. New York: Vintage Books.

Gottfried, T., & Reim, M. (2002). The road to Communism. Brookfield, Conn: Twenty-First Century Books.

Graham, L. R. (2013). The ghost of the executed engineer: Technology and the fall of the Soviet Union. Cambridge, Mass. u.a: Harvard Univ. Press.

Harkins, S. S., & Harkins, W. H. (2008). The fall of the Soviet Union, 1991. Hockessin, Del: Mitchell Lane.

Langley, A. (2006). The collapse of the Soviet Union: The end of an empire. Mpls: Compass Point Books.

Plokhy, S. (2015). The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union. New York: Oneworld Publications.