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Glastnost and cold war. After the Second World War, the USSR and the USA
became the two major super power of the world. The USA still ...
Submitted by kasirgat on March 23, 2008
Category: History Other
Words: 1298 | Pages: 6
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After the Second World War, the USSR and the USA became the two major super power of the world. The USA still carries on this power but the USSR weren’t able to. However, the Soviet Union succeeded in many ways and led the world in industrial and technological development for many years. The Soviet Union was one of the most ethnically varied countries, and this ethnic diversity sometimes caused disagreement among different ethnicities in the USSR. When Gorbachev took leadership of the USSR in 1985, he intended to change the structure of Soviet communism and began two campaigns of Glasnost and Perestroika. The purpose of Gorbachev in applying these programs are fixing the inability to develop economy and so much armament that the economy couldn’t handle. By Glasnost and Perestroika, Gorbachev tried to gain the trust of people which was decreased after Chernobyl disaster. Glasnost was providing openness in economy and the goal of Perestroika was “restructuring” economy which had strict procedures that constrain minorities. Moreover, hesitations of minorities to express their problems were removed with the advent of freedom of speech that was supported by Glasnost. As a result of these programs, dissolutions began in the Soviet state. Although no one even imagined fragmentation until a short period of time when it happens, Soviet Union collapsed eventually. The Soviet leaders had ruled many nationalities under one state with Russian dominance. However, compelling manner of Soviet State began to cause economic and cultural crisis. Therefore, Gorbachev decided to reform structure of communism in order to recover crisis which led to unexpected consequences.
Even though Russians were dominating in cultural, economic and political means in the USSR, solidarity of the Soviet Union were preserved for many years through the sophisticated strategies applied by the Soviet leaders. According to Beissinger, “Despite their widespread practice of coercion as a...
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