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The collapse of the USSR can rightfully be called one of the most significant political events of the XX century. For half a century, the USSR and the USA, in their confrontation, shaped the entire system of international relations. When the USSR ceased to exist, the whole system of cross-cultural relations underwent significant changes. The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted from the countrys economic situation, which, combined with the increasing confrontation costs, led Soviet leadership to introduce liberal reforms. These reforms, intended to revive the countrys economy, unleashed the forces the Kremlin could no longer control that resulted in the fall of the Soviet Union.
In the early eighties, all layers of society suffered from a lack of freedom. With the election of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Central Committee in 1985, a period of reforms began in the USSR. Revising the foundations of the totalitarian political system and the planned and distributive economic system has started in the country. The term perestroika that emerged in those years meant a transition from above to the democratization of the political system and the admission of market relations in the economy. This was reflected in reducing the Communist partys role in public life, the weakening of centralized management of the economy, and increasing the regional authorities rights. In essence, this meant the privatization of part of state property and the introduction of market relations into the economy alongside the remaining regulatory role of the state.
The developing economic crisis was accompanied by a deterioration of the political situation in the country. Noting the inability of the central government to improve the financial situation, the leadership of the Union republics, territories, and regions asked for the decentralization of governance, demanding greater rights to solve local economic and social problems. New ideas contributed to the weakening of the party vertical, and the rights of nations to self-determination began to be declared constitutional (Rutland). The elections confirmed the higher legitimacy of the Republican elites compared to the legitimacy of the union leadership.
This fact raised the question of the need to redistribute power between the union and republican centers. By August 1991, a draft Union Treaty was prepared. The treaty stated the transition to a federal state, eliminating a number of established state structures and replacing them with new ones. However, the treaty was not signed; instead, the August Coup took place, leading to the loss of influence by Gorbachev and the abolition of the former institutions of central power. Shortly after the coup failed, eight Soviet republics declared their independence, and the collapse of the Soviet Union was underway.
The collapse of the USSR led to the rupture of traditional ties between economic entities in the former republics and the widespread crisis associated with the disintegration of the Soviet economy. In the global arena, the fall of the USSR marked the beginning of a long-term process of changing the global and regional balance of power: economic, political, military. At present, many states still undergo processes of redefinition brought about by new economic and political realities they have to live in.
Caused by economic and political reasons and brought about in opposition to Soviet peoples will, the fall of the Soviet Union marked the beginning of the new era. Having put a stop to bipolar world, this event unleashed centrifugal forces that led to the creation of new states. The confrontation of Cold war gave way to an emerging multipolar world where many actors are still engaged in the processes of redefinition.
Work Cited
Rutland, Peter. Politics: The Fall of the Soviet Union Revisited . Transitions Online, vol. 1, no. 9, 2018, pp. 5-6. Web.
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