Skip to main content

Describe one U.S. policy and one soviet policy that contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and European communism in the early 1990s. What...

The economic system of Soviet Communism was not sustainable; the question was not if it would fail but how and when. By trying to coerce people into working instead of giving them the incentive of working for higher incomes, the USSR handicapped its own economic productivity substantially.

But there were definitely policy decisions along the way that triggered the final collapse.

One US policy that was very important was a huge surge in US military spending under Ronald Reagan. Rumor has it that this was actually an accident, the result of clerical errors combined with the high inflation of the time. Whether or not that's actually true, the reality clearly was that the US enormously increased military spending in the 1980s, and in fact increased it so high that due to US economic superiority there was simply no way the USSR could possibly have matched US military production even if they spent literally everything they had on the military.

Partly as a result of being so obviously outmatched, but also in an effort to pull back from the conflict that the Soviet Union was obviously losing ground in and modernize the Soviet economy, Gorbachev restructured Soviet military policy, called perestroika ("restructuring") and glasnost ("transparency"). He downsized the Soviet military and pulled out troops from a number of countries in Eastern Europe.

But Eastern European countries could see that the capitalist (or, more properly, mixed-capitalist social democracy) system in Western Europe was leading to much greater prosperity and freedom than the Communist system they were under. Without Soviet troops holding them to the Communist system, a number of Eastern European countries began to defect from the Soviet Union and begin reforms to be more like Western Europe. Shortly thereafter, other countries left the Soviet Union, and in a few years the whole USSR had fractured apart.

Popular posts from this blog

In chapter one of The Great Gatsby, what advice does Nick's father give him? How does this make him a good person to tell this story?

Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches... Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches into a discussion of how pe...
Post a Comment
Read more

How did the United States become an imperial power?

"Imperial power" is a bit of a vague label. It tends to mean several things at once, so let's unpack it. In the sense of "this country was built on conquest by force," the "imperial power" part of America actually predates the United States proper. The territories that would become the United States were imperial colonies, established by the great European empires of the 17th and 18th centuries. Much of the US Constitution and American governance generally goes back to England, history's largest and most successful imperial power, but vital aspects of American culture come from other imperial powers, such as France and Spain. Much of American culture comes from sources other than the old empires, but they were key influences on what the United States became. In the sense of "this country treats conquest by force as a fundamental component of its culture, economy and politics," the United States has always been an imperial power. Even earl...
Post a Comment
Read more

How and why does James Gatz become Jay Gatsby? Describe the young Gatsby/Gatz.

James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune,... James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune, whereas they arose from well-to-do families. Gatz became Gatsby through determination and discipline. At the end of the novel, the narr...
Post a Comment
Read more