Chapter 2

End Of Bipolarity
Q. Write a short note on Berlin wall ?
A. 1.The Berlin Wall symbolized the division between the Capitalist and the
Communist world. So its fall is treated as the end of bipolarity as it was
the beginning of the end of the communist bloc.
2.Built In 1961 to separate East Berlin From West Berlin.
3.The 150 km long wall stood for 28 years & was finally broken on 9th
November, 1989.
4.This marked the unification of the 2 parts of Germany & the beginning of
the end of the communist bloc.

Q.When did Socialist Revolution take place in Russia ?

A.1917
Q. What is Shock Therapy ?
A. A painful process of transition from an authoritarian socialist system to a
democratic Capitalist system.The model of transition in Russia, central Asia
and east Europe that was influenced by the World Bank and the IMF is
known as ‘Shock Therapy’.
Q.What was Socialist Bloc ?
A.The second world countries or the group of east European countries who
were liberated from fascist forces, followed the model of the USSR known as
Socialist Bloc.

Q. What are the features of USSR that distinguish it from U.S.?

A. 1) One Party System : The makers of the Soviet System gave primacy to
the state and the institution of the party. The Soviet political system
centered around the communist party, and no other political party or
opposition was allowed. The economy was planned and controlled by the
state.
2) Developed Economy :The soviet economy was more then mere developed
than the rest of the world except for the US. It had a complex
communications network, vast energy resources including oil, iron and steel
machinery production, and a transport sector that connected its remotest
areas with efficiency. It had a domestic consumer industry that produced
everything from pins to cars, though their quality did not match that of the
western capitalist countries.
3) Minimum standard of living : The Soviet state ensured a minimum
standard of living for all citizens, and the government subsidized basic
necessities including health, education, childcare and other welfare schemes.
4) Absence of Unemployment : There was no unemployment. State ownership
was the dominant form of ownership : land and productive assets were owned
and controlled by the Soviet state.
5)Lack Of Democracy & Absence Of Freedom Of Speech : The Soviet system
however became very bureaucratic & authoritarian, making life very difficult
for its citizens. People often their dissent in jokes & cartoons.

Q.Who was Mikhail Gorbachev ? Why did he wanted to reform USSR system ?
A.Mikhail Gorbachev was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union in 1985,he wanted to reform USSR System Because-
1.Reforms were necessary to keep the USSR abreast of the information &
technological revolutions taking place in the west.
2.To democratize Soviet System & to normalise relations with the west.
3.To Loosen the administrative system.
3.The people in the East European countries which were part of the Soviet
bloc started to protest against their own governments & soviet control.

Q.Mention the role of Boris Yelstin in the disintegration of the USSR ?

A. A coup took place in 1991 that was encouraged by communist party
hardliners. The people had tasted freedom by then and did not want the
old-style rule of the Communist Party. Boric yeltsin emerged as a national
hero in opposing this coup.
1. The Russian Republic ,where yeltsin won a popular election, began to shake
off centralized control. Power began to shift from the soviet centre to the
republic, especially in the more Europeanised part of the Soviet Union, which
saw themselves as sovereign states.
2. The Central Asian republic did not ask for remain with the Soviet
Federation.
3. In December 1991, under the leardership of Yeltsin, Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus, three major republic of the USSR, declared that the Soviet Union
was disbanded. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was banned.
Capitalism and democracy were adopted as the bases for the post-Soviet
republics.

Q.Write a note on Formation of Commonwealth of Independent States .

A. 1.Disintegration of the USSR gave birth to Commonwealth of Independent
States came as a surprise to the other republics,especially to the Central
Asian Ones.
2. The Exclusion of these republics was as issue that was quickly solved by
making them founding members of the CIS.
3.Russia was now accepted as the successor state of the Soviet Union.It
Inherited the Soviet Seat In the UN Security Council.The old Soviet Union
was thus dead & buried.

Q. Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate ?

OR
Describe the causes/reasons for the disintegration of the Soviet Union in
1991?
A . 1) Internal weakness of economy and political institution : Soviet political
and economic institutions, which failed to meet the aspirations of the people,
were responsible for the collapse of the system. Economic stagnation for
many years led to severe consumer shortage.
 2) Expenses on military : The answer is partially clear. The Soviet
economy used much of its resources in maintaining a nuclear and military
arsenal and the development of its satellite states in Eastern Europe and
within the Soviet system (the five central Asian Republics in Particular).
This led to a huge economic burden that the system could not cope with.
3) Awareness among citizens : Ordinary citizen became more
knowledgeable about the west. They could see the disparities between their
system and the systems of the west. After years of being told that the
Soviet system was better than Western capitalism, the reality of its
backwardness came as a political and psychological shock.
4) Unaccountability of the government : The Soviet Union had become
stagnant in an administrative and political sense as well. The communist
party that had ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable
to the people. Ordinary people were alienated by slow and stifling
administration, rampant corruption, the inability of the system to correct
mistakes it had made, the unwillingness to allow more openness in
government, and the centralization of authority in a vast land.
5)Rise of Nationalism & Desire for Sovereignity : The rise of nationalism and
the desire for sovereignty within various republic including Russia and the
Baltic Republic (Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania), Ukraine, Georgia, and others
proved to be the final and most immediate cause for the disintegration of
the USSR.
Q. Why the Soviet Union collapsed in spite of Gorbachev’s accurate diagnosis of
the problem?
A. 1) The most basic answer seems to be that where Gorbachev carried out
his reforms and loosened the system, he set in motion forces and
expectations that few could have predicted and become virtually impossible to
control.
2) There were sections of the Soviet society which felt that Gorbachev
should have moved much faster and were disappointed and impatient with his
method. They did not benefit in the way they had hoped or they benefitted
too slowly.
 3) Others, especially members of the communist party and those who were
served by this system, took exactly the opposite view. They felt that their
power and privileges were eroding and Gorbachev was moving too quickly.

Q. What are the consequences of disintegration of USSR?

A. 1) End of Cold War confrontations : First of all, it meant the end of
cold war confrontations. The ideological dispute over whether the Socialist
system would beat the capitalist system was not an issue any more.
2) Power relations in World politics : Second, power relations in world
politics changed and, therefore, the relative influence of ideas and institutions
also changed. The end of the cold war left open two possibilities; either the
remaining superpower would dominate and create a unipolar system, or
different countries or groups of countries could become important players in
the international system, thereby bringing in a multipolar system where no
one power could dominate. As it turned out, the US became the sole
superpower. Backed by the power and prestige of the US, the capitalist
economy was now the dominant economic system internationally.
3) The emergence of new independent countries : The end of the “Soviet
Bloc” meant the emergence of many new countries because at the down of
the disintegration of USSR Soviet Union divided into 15 independent
countries. All these countries had their own independent aspirations and
choices. Some of them, especially the Baltic and East European states wanted
to join the European Union and became part of the “North Atlantic Treaty
Organization”. The central Asia countries wanted to take advantage to their
geographical location and continue their close ties with Russia and also to
establish ties with the west, the US, China and others.

Q. Examine the nature and features of Shock Therapy?

A. 1) Capitalist Economy : The Shock therapy advocated that every country
was required to make a total shift to capitalist economy i.e. the private
ownership became dominant pattern of ownership of property.
2)Private Farming : Shock therapy involved the replacements of the
collective farming to private farming and capitalism in agriculture.
 3) Free Trade : Shock therapy stressed on the external orientation of
the economy with the free trade as the essential condition. The free trade
regime and foreign direct investment (FDI) become the main engines of
change.
4) Trade alliances with West : In Shock therapy transition also involved a
breakup of the existing trade alliances among the countries of the Soviet
Bloc. Each state from the bloc was supposed to be directly linked to the
west instead of the inter trade alliance among the regions.

Q. What was Shock Therapy? Was this the best way to make a transition
from communism to capitalism?
A. 1) Russia, the large state controlled industrial complex almost collapsed,
as “about 90 per cent of its individuals and companies”.
2) Since, the restructuring was carried out through market forces and
not by government directed industrial policies, it led to the virtual
disappearance of entire industries. This was called “the largest garage sale in
history” as valuable industries were undervalued and sold at throw away
prices.
Under the influence of Shock therapy the Old system of social welfare was
systematically destroyed:-
3) The rate of inflation was so high that people lost all their savings
4) The withdrawal of government subsidies pushed large sections of the
people into poverty. The middle sections of the periphery of society and
academic and intellectual manpower disintegrated or migrated.
5) Mafia emerged in most of the countries and started controlling many
economic activities.
6) Privatization led to new disparities post Soviet states, especially Russia,
were divided in rich and poor regions. Hence, in the post Cold war era unlike
in earlier system, there was now great economic inequality between people.
Under the transaction period with the effect of the “Shock Therapy” the
old trading structure of Russia broke down with no alternative in its place
7) The value of the ruble, the Russian currency declined dramatically. The
rate of inflation was so high that people lost all their savings.
Q. During the cold war era India and the USSR enjoyed a multi-dimensional
relationship? Discuss.
A. During the cold war era India and the USSR enjoyed a multi-dimensional
relationship. The relation between the two can be analysed under four areas
like:-
1) Economic : In the economic arena Soviet Union provided extraordinary
assistance to India’s technical and economic developments like:
 The Soviet Union assisted India’s public sector companies and gave aid
and technical assistance for steel plants like, Bhilai, Bakaro,
Vishakhapatnam and Machinery plants like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.
 The Soviet Union provided a positive attitude towards India when India
was suffering from financial crisis like short of foreign exchange. The
Soviet Union accepted Indian currency for trade.
2) Political : In the political spheres Soviet Union supported India’s position
on the Kashmir issue in the UN.
 It also supported India during the war with China in 1962 and Pakistan
in 1971.
 To reciprocate India too supported Soviet foreign policy in some crucial
but indirect ways.
3) Military : In military sphere also India got a very friendly support from
Soviet Union. It received most of its military hardware from Soviet Union
and got the technological knowledge regarding military arsenals. India and
Soviet Union also set up a joint venture to produce military equipment.
4) Cultural : India. Hindi films and Indian culture were very popular in the
Soviet Union. and Soviet Union has cultural ties to the promotion and
enrichment of India’s culture Indian heroes; from Raj Kapoor to Amitabh
Bachhan are household names in Russia and many post-Soviet countries.
Besides, Hindi film songs are very famous in all over the Soviet Region and
India is part of the popular memory.
Q.Discuss briefly the tensions & conflicts in Soviet Republics ? Explain.
A.
-In Russia :
1.Chechnya and Dagestan had violent secessionist movements.
2.Moscow’s method to deal with Chechen rebels and indiscriminate military
bombings led to many human rights violation but for deter aspirations for
independence.
-In Central Asia
1.Tajikistan witnessed a civil war that went on for ten years till 2001.
2.In Azerbaijan’s provinces of Nagorno-Karobakh, some local Armenians want
to secede and join Armenia.
3.In Georgia, the demand for independence came from two provinces resulting
in a civil war.
4.There are still movements against the existing regimes in Ukraine,
Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.
5.Even countries and provinces are fighting over river water.
-In Eastern Europe.
1.Czechoslovakia split peacefully into two with the Czechs and Slovaks,
forming independent countries.
2.The severe conflict took place in the Balkan republics of Yugoslavia.
3.After 1991, Yugoslavia broke apart with several provinces like Croatia,
Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina declaring independence.
4.Ethnic Serbs opposed this and a massacre of non-Serbs Bosnians followed.
5.The NATO intervention and the bombing of Yugoslavia followed inter-ethnic
Civil war.