12th Class Arts Political Science 2nd Chapter end of bipolarity notes

Chapter 2: End of Bipolarity

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  • Fall of Berlin Wall

i. The Berlin Wall built during the height of the Cold war in 1961 symbolized the division between

the Capitalist and the Communist world.

ii. The fall of the Berlin wall by common people in Nov 1989 marks the beginning of the end of the

Communist Bloc.

iii. One after another 8 East European countries that were part of the Soviet Bloc replaced the

communist governments in response to mass demonstrations. Eventually, the Soviet Union

also disintegrated.

  • Features of the Soviet System

i. The USSR came into being after a revolution in 1917 inspire by the ideas of socialism and

egalitarian society.

ii. The soviet system gave primacy to the State and the Soviet Communist Party.

iii. No other political party was allowed and the economy was planned and controlled by the

State.

Socialist Bloc

i. After the second world war, the East European countries that the Soviet Army has liberated

from the Fascist forces came under the control of USSR.

ii. The political and economic system of all these countries was model after the USSR. This

group of countries was called the second world or the Socialist Bloc. The Warsaw pact a

military alliance held them together and USSR was the leader of the Bloc.

 

  • Features distinguishing Soviet Economy from a capitalist economy

i. After the second world war, the Soviet economy was more developed than the rest of the

world except for the US.

 

a. Complex communication Network – It had a complex a communications network, vast

energy resources including oil, iron, and steel. Machinery production and a transport

sector connecting its remotest area.

b. Advanced domestic consumer industry – the Soviet Union produced everything from pins

to cars. Though their quality did not match that of the capitalist countries.

c. Minimum standard of living- The Soviet State ensured a minimum standard of living for

all citizens. Govt. subsidized basic necessities including health, education, child care &

other welfare schemes.

d. Absence of unemployment – There was no unemployment state ownership was a

dominant form of ownership and land and productive assets were and controlled by

Soviet State.

 

  • Reasons for the disintegration of Soviet Union

Economic Causes

i. The internal weakness of the Soviet political and economic institutions failed to meet the

aspirations of the people.

ii. The Soviet Union used its resources in maintaining Nuclear and Military Arsenal and the

development of its satellites in East Europe. This led to the huge economic burden that the

system could not cope with.

iii. The Soviet Union lagged behind the West in technology and infrastructure. Ordinary citizens

became more knowledgeable about the economic advance of the West. The backwardness

of the Soviet economic system came as a political and psychological shock to the people.

Political Causes

iv. The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense. The

communist party that ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable to

people.

v. Corruption was rampant. Lack of democracy and the absence of freedom of speech stifled

people who often expressed their dissent in-jokes and cartoons.

vi. Party bureaucrats gained more privilege than an ordinary citizen. People did not identify with

the system and the government increasingly lost popular backing.

vii. Mikhail Gorbachev promised to reform the economy, catch up with the West, and loosen the

administrative system.

Cultural Causes

viii. The communist party refuse to recognize the urge of people in 15 different republics that

formed the Soviet Union to manage its own affairs including their cultural affairs.

ix. On paper, Russia was only one of the 5 republics but in reality, Russia dominated everything

and people from other republics felt neglected and suppressed.

 

x. The rise of nationalism and desire for sovereignty within various republics including Russia,

the Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) Ukraine & Georgia and others proved to be

the final and most immediate cause for the disintegration of the USSR.

xi. During the Cold war, many thought that nationalist unrest would be the strongest in the

Central Asian republics given their ethnic and the religious difference with the rest of the Soviet

Union and their economic backwardness. However the unrest was strongest in the

European and prosperous regions of USSR like Russia and the Baltic Republics. People here

felt alienated from the central Asians and concluded that they were paying a very high

economic price for keeping backward area with Soviet Union.

  • Shock Therapy

i. The collapse of communism in the countries socialist Bloc was followed by a painful process

for the transition from an authoritarian Socialist system to a Democratic capitalist system.

ii. The model of transition in Russia, Central Asia and east Europe undertook by the World

Bank and the IMF came to be known as shock therapy. Shock therapy varied in its intensity

and speed but its direction and features were quite similar.

a. Capitalist Economy: Shock therapy required these countries to make a total shift to

the capitalist economy, hence any structure that had evolved during the Soviet period were

completely rooted out.

b. Private ownership: Now private ownership was the dominant pattern of ownership.

The privatization of state assets and corporate ownership was undertaken immediately.

c. Private Farming- Collective farms were replaced by private farming and capitalism in

agriculture.

d. Free trade – Shock therapy drastically changes the external orientation of these

economies. Free trade and foreign direct investment were now the main engines of

change in development. Deregulation and currency convertibility were introduced.

e. Trade alliance with the West -Shock therapy involved the break-up of the existing trade

alliances among the countries of the Soviet Bloc. Each state from this Bloc was linked

directly to the West and was gradually absorbed into the Western economic system.

The Western Capitalist states now became the leaders and thus guided and controlled

the development of the region through various agencies and organizations.

 

  • Difference between the Russian & Chinese path/way to market economy

i. In Russia, the concept of Market economy was brought forward by the IMF and World Bank, and

the Russian Govt. was not allowed to take part in this process. In China, the state played and

continues to play a central role in setting up a market economy.

ii. In Russia, the transition from communism to capitalism was sudden and complete. It meant

rooting out completely any structure evolved during Soviet period. China, on the other hand,

followed its own path of the market economy, it did not go for shock therapy but opened its

economy step by step.

 

iii. In Russia, the shock therapy brought ruin to the economy and disaster upon the people of

the entire region. Large state-controlled industrial complex collapsed as 90% of its industries

were put up for sale to private individuals and companies. Since restructuring was carried

out through market forces & not by Govt. directed industrial policies, it led to the virtual

disappearance of entire industries. In China, the new economic policies helped the economy

to break away from stagnation and the economy including industry & agriculture grew at a

faster pace.

iv. China has become the most important destination for foreign direct investment anywhere in

the world. It has a large foreign exchange reserve that allows it to make big investments in

other countries. As a result of shock therapy the value of Ruble, the Russian currency

declined dramatically. The real GDP of Russia in 1999 was below what it was in 1989. Ten

years after the introduction of shock therapy Russia could revive its economy by exporting

natural resources like oil, natural gas, and minerals.

  • India Russia Relationship

i. India has maintained good relations with all the post-communist countries but the strongest

relations are still with Russia.

ii. Indo Russian relations are embedded in the history of trust and common interests.

iii. Russian and India share a vision of multi-polar the world order which allows the co-existence of

several powers in the international system, collective security,. Greater regionalism,

negotiated settlements of international conflicts, an independent foreign policy for all

countries and empowerment and democratization of the UN.

iv. More than 80 bilateral agreements had been signed between India and Russia as part of the

Indo Russian strategic agreement for 2001.

v. India stands to benefits from its relationship with Russia on issues like Kashmir, energy

supplies, sharing information on international terrorism, access to central Asia, and

balancing its relations with China.

vi. Russia has given assistance to India during the oil crisis. India has increased its energy imports

from Russia, and the republics of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

vii. Russia is important for India’s nuclear energy plans and has assisted India’s space industry

by giving the cryogenic rocket when India needed it.

viii. Russia stands to benefit from its relationship because India is the second-largest arms

market for Russia. The Indian military gets most of its hardware from Russia.

ix. Russia and India are collaborating on various scientific projects


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