In 1989, the world saw the fall of the United Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.), which was also known as the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a block of 15 Communist Eastern European states that was ruled by one government with various puppet governments located throughout the states. Its collapse brought about new issues that the world had never had to deal with before. The fall of such a large block of Soviet states created many problems and some of the solutions that were used to solve these problems, as well as many of the tensions that were created during this time, still affect the world today. Some of the ramifications resulting from the Soviet Union’s collapse are still being felt; however, many problems have been solved since the initial break in 1989.
The Soviet Union first began to dismantle when Mikhail Gorbachev became its President in 1985. When Mikhail Gorbachev took over, he faced an economy in shambles and a country in need of reform. In his efforts to stimulate the economy and make it prosperous, he introduced two policies: Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost or “openness”, allowed freedom of the press, elections to parties other than the Communist party, the release of political prisoners, freedom for all Soviet peoples, dismantling of the secret police force, and the end of the repression previously instituted by former Russian President Josef Stalin in the 1940’s. Perestroika or economic restructuring, was designed to allow Soviet people to own businesses, unionize for better wages and work conditions, open up for Western countries to invest, and allowed for new trade amongst western countries.(Fall of the Soviet Union)
After Gorbachev implemented Glasnost and Perestroika, he began to stop the arms race...
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...he question, who will keep the peace in Africa now that the Soviet Union no longer exists?(A Globe Redrawn)
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