- Books Name
- Education Vision Political Science Book
- Publication
- PathSet Publications
- Course
- CBSE Class 12
- Subject
- Political Science
END OF BIPOLARITY
- Bipolar: Two poles i.e., 2 superpowers
- Bipolar World ended and Unipolar world started.
- Berlin (i.e., Germany) was divided in 2 parts. East Berlin and West Berlin by the construction of Wall in 1961
- Division led because of difference in ideologies. West Berlin supported Capitalism and East Berlin followed Communism.
- 9th November 1989 wall between West and East Berlin was broken and everyone united and adopted Capitalism.
- It was remarkable in the world history and Unipolar World started.
- Many collapses like this happened and USSR disintegrated.
- US became the superpower.
WHAT WAS THE SOVIET SYSTEM?
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) came into being after Russian Revolution in 1917.
1. Soviet Union POLITICAL SYSTEM:
- COMMUNISM:
- Economy was planned and controlled by government.
- One party dominance and no opposition
- Communist party in USSR
- East Europe was part of USSR and followed same ideology of communism. And this group of countries was called the Second World or the “socialist bloc”.
- The military alliance (Warsaw Pact) held them together.
- The USSR was the leader of bloc.
2. The soviet economy was very developed than the rest of the world except US. Features being:
- Had complex communication network, vast energy resources including oil and minerals.
- Transport sector which connected its remotest areas with efficiency.
- It had domestic consumer industry that produced everything from pins to cars, though their quality did not match to the quality of western countries.
- Ensured minimum standard of living, all the basic amenities were provided by government.
- No unemployment.
- State ownership was dominant
3. Problems of USSR or in USSR:
- It was very bureaucratic and authoritarian i.e., strict rules and regulation imposed on citizens
- No Democracy
- No freedom of speech, people expressed their opinions through jokes and cartoons.
- Communist party had tight control over institutions and was unaccountable to people of USSR.
- And such institutions which needed reforms were ignored by government.
- The communist party refused to recognize the urge of people in 15 different republics (Russia + 14 states) that formed the Soviet Union.
- On papers 15 republics together constituted the USSR, but in reality, Russia dominated everything and people of other regions felt suppressed/ neglected.
4. In arms race USSR managed to match the US but USSR lagged behind from US in:
- Technology
- Infrastructure
- Fulfilling the political or economic aspirations of citizens.
- USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 because of which the USSR’s system weakened.
- Wages continued to grow but productivity and technology got far behind.
- Which led to shortage in customer goods.
- Food imports increased.
- And in the late 1970’s the Soviet economy became stagnant.