...Causes and Origins of the Collapse of the Former Soviet Union An Honors Research Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation ―with Honors Research Distinction in Russian Economic Studies‖ in the Undergraduate Colleges of the Ohio State University by Erik Lauritzen The Ohio State University June 2011 Project Advisors: Professor Jason Blevins, Department of Economics Professor Jennifer Suchland, Department of Russian Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3 1. Macroeconomic Planning in the Soviet Union ................................................................. 5 1.1 The Early Policies of Period One ................................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 War Communism .......................................................................................................................... 5 1.1.2 The New Economic Policy (NEP) ............................................................................................... 9 1.1.3 Democratic Centralism ............................................................................................................... 11 1.2 The Significance of Economic...
Words: 15222 - Pages: 61
...Most Significant Events By Bryon W. Neubauer Jr. University of Phoenix - Axia College Introduction The purpose of this paper is to inform you of the different events over the past five decades that changed the world that we live in today. Some of the events were good and some were bad. The people of the United States have seen and been through numerous of changes and wars. The U.S. has seen presidents come and go that has either helped us or have hurt us in some way or another. In this paper I will try to explain some of those events. People wonder why historical things happen and why it is important to learn about them. Although we do not have an exact answer down to an exact science, we have come to notice that past events have or may have happened has an impact on future events. Ever since the 1950’s all the way through 1990’s, numerous events have happened. Many of those events were social, economic and political related. Almost of all of these events throughout the 1950’s through the 1990’s have impacted how our world is today. Throughout the past five decades and all the historical events that have taken place has had some kind of effect on the way our world is today and future events that has yet to happen. The Korean War – 1950’s During the 1950’s significant social, economic and political events had occurred. The biggest events that happen...
Words: 2354 - Pages: 10
...Study Guide For Final Examination 1. Examine the process and the transition from the more traditional "putting-out" system to the rise of the factory system. What would be the economic and social implications of this change? (Class notes and Bentley & Ziegler, chapter 29) World population was growing, so there was a demand for more finished products. Before the factories, products were produced out of people’s homes and the process took a lot of time. The factories opened and centralized the materials (and people making the products) getting made to one place. The rise of factories came about with new technologies and new machines. Entrepreneurs worked with scientists (engineers) to make machines to mass produce the goods. Started with the textile industry (imported from India and then British government banned the imports of textiles from India and then the demand became greater) because the demand for textiles was not being met with the “putting out” system. Spinning machines made thread and then the flying shuttle would weave to make cloth. Social implications included opening of schools – even for women on a positive side and as a negative side, it led to overcrowding in the cities (which led to theft and prostitution), unemployment (people traveled to the cities to work in the factories and there weren’t enough jobs to go around), health concerns (sanitation and pollution) and child labor. Economic implications would include the rise of the two different classes –...
Words: 2380 - Pages: 10
...in one’s own strength, displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, and thus solving one’s own problems for oneself on one’s own responsibility under all circumstances. The DPRK claims that juche is Kim Il Sung’s creative application of Marxist-Leninist principles to the modern political realities in North Korea.2 Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il have successfully wielded the juche idea as a political shibboleth to evoke a fiercely nationalistic drive for North Korean independence and to justify policies of self-reliance and self-denial in the face of famine and economic stagnation in North Korea. Kim Il Sung envisioned three specific applications of juche philosophy: political and ideological independence, especially from the Soviet Union and China; economic self-reliance and self-sufficiency; and a viable national defense system.3 This paper begins with a discussion of the three key components of the juche ideology – political, economic and military independence – as promulgated by the DPRK. The second section is a discussion of the ideological origins of the juche philosophy, followed by a third section on the philosophical bases of the juche idea. The paper concludes with an examination of juche as a political body of thought and an evaluation of the success with...
Words: 4612 - Pages: 19
...Once the proud capital of Germany Berlin was divided by a barrier that was patrolled day and night by armed soldiers and guard dogs. On August 13, 1961 shortly after midnight police and soldiers in the Communist controlled Berlin moved quickly to set up barriers. Berliners woke to find their city divided into east and west sectors. A communist nation led by the Soviet Union was in control of East Berlin. While West Berlin was controlled by a democratic nation led by the United States (Epler, 1992). The Berlin Wall known as Berliner Mauer in German (Rosenberg, 2016). It was a symbol of the Cold War. Trying to cross the Wall meant risking one’s life. One side of the Wall people were free to do all the normal things. While the other side of the wall people’s freedom was being taken away. Imagine that your best friend lives a mile away. You have been pals since first grade. You do everything together: school, soccer games, sleepovers. One day, men come and put up a barbed-wire fence between your house and your buddy’s house. Later, they replace it with a very long, very tall concrete wall. Each slab weighs 6,000 pounds, and many of them are topped with sharp wire. When they finish, you stare at the giant wall that has split your home town in two. On your side the wall is ugly but not too scary. On the other side, rattling tanks, soldiers with machine guns and growling dogs keep people from trying to cross the barrier. The wall stands 12 feet high. Your friend...
Words: 6813 - Pages: 28
...Research Paper on theme: U.S. - Soviet relations. Cold War. Student: Natalia Konovalova. Introduction. This paper is about U.S. - Soviet relations in Cold War period. Our purpose is to find out the causes of this war, positions of the countries which took part in it. We also will discuss the main Cold War's events. The Cold War was characterized by mutual distrust, suspicion and misunderstanding by both the United States and Soviet Union, and their allies. At times, these conditions increased the likelihood of the third world war. The United States accused the USSR of seeking to expand Communism throughout the world. The Soviets, meanwhile, charged the United States with practicing imperialism and with attempting to stop revolutionary activity in other countries. Each block's vision of the world contributed to East-West tension. The United States wanted a world of independent nations based on democratic principles. The Soviet Union, however, tried control areas it considered vital to its national interest, including much of Eastern Europe. Through the Cold War did not begin until the end of World War II, in 1945, U.S.-Soviet relations had been strained since 1917. In that year, a revolution in Russia established a Communist dictatorship there. During the 1920's and 1930's, the Soviets called for world revolution and the destruction of capitalism, the...
Words: 7078 - Pages: 29
...World War II, the alliance between the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union ended. An intense rivalry between communist and non-communist nations led to the Cold War. It's called the Cold War because it never led to armed or "hot" conflict. At the end of World War II, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into four occupied zones controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Berlin was also divided into four sections. Lack of a mutual agreement on German re-unification was a important background of the Cold War. And on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill, gave his "iron curtain" speech while at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, which marked the start of the Cold War. The cold war did not end until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. During this period, the United States and the USSR confronted each other in politics, economy, ideology, and so on. And they nearly divided this world into two camps, socialist camp and capitalist camp, what made the conflict on ideology especially sharp. Every incident in the world could not happened without reasons, and the original cause may happened quite long ago. So there are long term causes and short causes of the Cold War. One of the short term causes is that the US President had a personal dislike of the Soviet leader Josef Stalin. At the Potsdam Conference starting in late July 1945, serious differences emerged over the future development of Germany and Eastern Europe. At Potsdam,...
Words: 6578 - Pages: 27
...1945. The purpose of that time managers of Turkey, protect it from the damage of the war. The end of the war with the options in front of us, pushing us to act together with the Western bloc. The formation of these preferences is not a decision for an instant multi-dimensional factors, factors were created by a process. Turkey’s prefer of Western side, did not lead to acceptance by the West sincerely. European members of NATO did not want to risk of war again because of Turkey who was under the Soviet threat at that time. At the same time, they were not willing to impart that the U.S. Marshall Aid to Turkey. Britain lost its efficiency in the Middle East as in all the world and for that reason Britain was put forward a project that "Commander of the Middle East" which Turkey will play a key role for gain efficiency again. Due to U.S. opposition to this prediction, this project got shelved.In the "Containment Policy" process which started with Truman Doctrine by U.S. against the Soviet Bloc, military and geo-strategic location of Turkey opened the door to NATO membership.With North Korea's attack on South Korea, the Korean War started in 1950-53 and the Turkey participating in United States’s side, this was resulting against all suspicies and prejudice, Turkey took place between NATO member countries.Russians wishes to change of Straits regime which determined with Montreux Convention, played a role in accelerating. Turkey was adopted in NATO after the third application on February...
Words: 3746 - Pages: 15
...can act; the emergence of a small class of the immensely rich alongside the billions of poor; the rise of new financial actors—pension funds, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds—capable of destabilizing or seizing control of entire realms of the economy; and the emergence of China and India as new global economic actors, as their companies storm the industrial bastions of the United States and Europe. Should one be for or against globalization? Can we turn our backs on globalization, and return to national or regional systems of production and exchange that are autonomous, even autarkic? Is the large cosmopolitan corporation the new leviathan—a monster that must be slain—or a force for human progress? It is tempting to reduce the debate over the economy of the twenty-first century to a simple alternative: being for or against globalization. Yet in my view, this would be a mistake. The growing interdependence of human society and our planet is irreversible, as is the 1 interdependence between humanity and the biosphere. The question of how...
Words: 12272 - Pages: 50
...The Maritime Strategy of China in the Asia-Pacific Region Origins, Development and Impact HUANG, AN-HAO Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 School of Social and Political Sciences Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper ABSTRACT This thesis aims to examine how and why a continental-oriented China has shifted its maritime strategic orientation and naval force structure from its coast toward the far seas in an era of interdependent international system. Generally, China is an ancient continental land power with an incomplete oceanic awareness. With the transformation after the Cold War of China’s grand strategy from landward security to seaward security, maritime security interests have gradually become the most essential part of China’s strategic rationale. Undoubtedly, the quest for sea power and sea rights has become Beijing’s main maritime strategic issue. Given China’s escalating maritime politico-economic-military leverage in the Asia-Pacific region, its desire to become a leading sea power embodying global strategic thinking means that it must expand its maritime strategy by developing its navy and preparing for armed confrontation in terms of international relations realism. Conversely, Beijing’s maritime policy leads at the same time towards globalization, which involves multilateralism and strategic coexistence of a more pragmatic kind. This research...
Words: 115996 - Pages: 464
...much more than any other international organization. The EU is, in fact, unique. Never before have countries voluntarily agreed to set up common institutions to which they delegate some of their sovereignty so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at a higher, in this case European, level. All EU decisions and procedures are based on the treaties agreed to by all EU countries, under which sovereignty is shared in specified areas. The result is a union of 27 Member States covering 1.6 million square miles with roughly half a billion people producing almost a third of the world‘s gross national product and speaking more than 23 1 languages, bound together by a desire to promote peace, democracy, prosperity, stability, and the rule of law. The EU embraces the fundamental values shared by its Member States across a multitude of cultures, languages, and traditions. The Member States agree that democracy is the best form of government. They believe in societies that encourage pluralistic political thought and endorse freedom of speech and religion. They support free market economies—where economic development and growth are driven by the private sector and facilitated by governments. They believe prosperous countries have an obligation to help poorer and less developed regions and nations. And they value living together in peace as well as promoting these principles...
Words: 8089 - Pages: 33
...Korean War Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 - armistice signed 27 July 1953[1] ) was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China (PRC), with military material aid from the Soviet Union. The war was a result of the physical division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean peninsula was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th Parallel, with United States troops occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part.[2] The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides, and the North established a Communist government. The 38th Parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Koreas. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel persisted. The situation escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950.[3] It was the first significant armed conflict of the Cold War.[4] The United Nations, particularly the United States, came to the aid of South Korea in repelling the invasion. A...
Words: 23177 - Pages: 93
...beginning of the contemporary era in world politics which is the subject matter of this book. It is, therefore, appropriate that we begin the story with a discussion of the Cold War. The chapter shows how the dominance of two superpowers, the United States of America and the Soviet Union, was central to the Cold War. It tracks the various arenas of the Cold War in different parts of the world. The chapter views the NonAligned Movement (NAM) as a challenge to the dominance of the two superpowers and describes the attempts by the non-aligned countries to establish a New International Economic Order (NIEO) as a means of attaining economic development and political independence. It concludes with an assessment of India’s role in NAM and asks how successful the policy of nonalignment has been in protecting India’s interests. The end of the Second World War led to the rise of two major centres of power. The two pictures above symbolise the victory of the US and the USSR in the Second World War. 1. American soldiers raising the US flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japan, on 23 February 1945 Credit: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, Photograph by Joe Rosenthal/The Associated Press 2. Soviet soldiers raising the USSR flag on the...
Words: 52386 - Pages: 210
...few; it often includes election rigging, political decisions being made by a select group of officials behind closed doors, a bureaucracy that sometimes operates independently of rules, which does not properly supervise elected officials, and fails to serve the concerns of the constituencies they purportedly serve. Authoritarianism also tends to embrace the informal and unregulated exercise of political power, a leadership that is "self-appointed and even if elected cannot be displaced by citizens' free choice among competitors," the arbitrary deprivation of civil liberties, and little tolerance for meaningful opposition; A range of social controls also attempt to stifle civil society, while political stability is maintained by control over and support of the armed forces, a pervasive bureaucracy staffed by the regime, and creation of allegiance through various means of socialization and indoctrination. Authoritarian political systems may be weakened through "inadequate performance to demands of the people." Vestal writes that the tendency to respond to challenges to authoritarianism through tighter control instead of adaptation is a significant weakness, and that this overly rigid approach fails to "adapt to changes or to accommodate growing demands on the part...
Words: 12304 - Pages: 50
...The Ethnic Cleansing Of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the International Community’s Failure to Prevent Genocide Brendan McElhaney November 2012 African American Studies 412 War Crimes And Genocide The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was an intricate and bloody conflict that resulted in the death of as many as 200,000 people.[1] The international response to the war was delayed; the actions of the Serbians against the Bosnians and Muslims were tacitly accepted by the major international players including the United States, Europe, and the United Nations. As U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said regarding the situation in Yugoslavia, “We don’t have a dog in that fight.”[2] This passive view of the situation in the Balkans was also demonstrated by the actions of the European Union, United Nations, and United States early on in the conflict. As the situation in Bosnia deteriorated, the international community took a passive approach to quelling the conflict. This apathy resulted because of involvement in past wars, politics, fear, misinformation, and an overall reluctance to act unilaterally. Only in the face of continued aggression by Serbians did the international community finally intervene and bring an end to one of the worst conflicts since WWII. Yet the ending of this saga actually rewarded Serbian aggression. Through various international mandates, policies, and conventions that were either completely ignored or enforced sporadically...
Words: 7451 - Pages: 30
