Chapter 1: The End of Bipolarity PDF

Chapter 1 The End of Bipolarity Overview The Berlin Wall, which had been built at the height of the Cold War and was its greatest symbol, was toppled by the people...

Chapter 1 The End of Bipolarity Overview The Berlin Wall, which had been built at the height of the Cold War and was its greatest symbol, was toppled by the people in 1989. This dramatic event was followed by an equally dramatic and historic chain of events that led to the collapse of the ‘second world’ and the end of the Cold War. Germany, divided after the Second World War, was unified. One after another, the eight East European countries that were part of the Soviet bloc replaced their communist governments in response to mass demonstrations. The Soviet Union stood by as the Cold War began to end, not by The Berlin Wall military means but as a result symbolised the division of mass actions by ordinary men between the capitalist and women. Eventually the Soviet and the communist Union itself disintegrated. In this world. Built in 1961 chapter, we discuss the meaning, to separate East Berlin from West Berlin, this more than 150 kilometre long wall stood for 28 years and was finally the causes and the consequences broken by the people on 9 November 1989. This marked the of the disintegration of the ‘second unification of the two parts of Germany and the beginning of world’. We also discuss what the end of the communist bloc. The pictures here depict: happened to that part of the world 1. People making a tiny hole in the wall 2. A section of the wall opened to allow free movement after the collapse of communist 3. The Berlin Wall as it stood before 1989 regimes and how India relates to Credit: 1. and 2. Frederik Ramm, these countries now. www.remote.org/frederik/culture/berlin 3. www.cs.utah.edu 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 1 14 September 2022 11:01:41  2 Contemporary World Politics What was the Soviet machinery production, and a transport sector that connected System? its remotest areas with efficiency. It had a domestic consumer LEADERS OF THE The Union of Soviet Socialist industry that produced everything SOVIET UNION Republics (USSR) came into being after the socialist revolution in from pins to cars, though their Russia in 1917. The revolution was quality did not match that of the inspired by the ideals of socialism, Western capitalist countries. The as opposed to capitalism, and the Soviet state ensured a minimum need for an egalitarian society. standard of living for all citizens, This was perhaps the biggest and the government subsidised attempt in human history to basic necessities including abolish the institution of private health, education, childcare and Vladimir Lenin property and consciously design other welfare schemes. State (1870-1924) a society based on principles of ownership was the dominant Founder of the equality. In doing so, the makers of form of ownership: land and Bolshevik the Soviet system gave primacy to productive assets were owned Communist party; the state and the institution of the and controlled by the Soviet state. leader of the party. The Soviet political system Russian Revolution The Soviet system, however, centred around the communist of 1917 and the became very bureaucratic and founder-head of party, and no other political party or opposition was allowed. authoritarian, making life very the USSR during The economy was planned and difficult for its citizens. Lack of the most difficult period following controlled by the state. democracy and the absence of the revolution freedom of speech stifled people (1917-1924); a After the Second World War, who often expressed their dissent practitioner of the east European countries that in jokes and cartoons. Most of Marxism and the Soviet army had liberated the institutions of the Soviet a source of from the fascist forces came state needed reform: the one- inspiration for under the control of the USSR. communists all party system represented by The political and the economic the Communist Party of the over the world. systems of all these countries Soviet Union had tight control were modelled after the USSR. over all institutions and was This group of countries was called unaccountable to the people. the Second World or the ‘socialist The party refused to recognise bloc’. The Warsaw Pact, a military the urge of people in the fifteen alliance, held them together. The different republics that formed USSR was the leader of the bloc. the Soviet Union to manage The Soviet Union became their own affairs including their a great power after the Second cultural affairs. Although, on World War. The Soviet economy paper, Russia was only one of was then more developed than the the fifteen republics that together rest of the world except for the US. constituted the USSR, in reality It had a complex communications Russia dominated everything, network, vast energy resources and people from other regions felt including oil, iron and steel, neglected and often suppressed. 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 2 15-03-2024 11:45:31  The End of Bipolarity 3 In the arms race, the Soviet Gorbachev, did not intervene Union managed to match the US when the disturbances occurred, from time to time, but at great and the communist regimes cost. The Soviet Union lagged collapsed one after another. behind the West in technology, LEADERS OF THE These developments were SOVIET UNION infrastructure (e.g., transport, accompanied by a rapidly power), and most importantly, in escalating crisis within the USSR fulfilling the political or economic that hastened its disintegration. aspirations of citizens. The Soviet Gorbachev initiated the policies invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 of economic and political reform weakened the system even further. and democratisation within Though wages continued to grow, the country. The reforms were productivity and technology fell opposed by leaders within the considerably behind that of the Communist Party. Joseph Stalin West. This led to shortages in all (1879-1953) consumer goods. Food imports A coup took place in 1991 that Successor to Lenin was encouraged by Communist and led the Soviet increased every year. The Soviet Party hardliners. The people had Union during its economy was faltering in the late consolidation 1970s and became stagnant. tasted freedom by then and did (1924-53); not want the old-style rule of the began rapid Communist Party. Boris Yeltsin industrialisation Gorbachev and the emerged as a national hero in and forcible collectivisation Disintegration opposing this coup. The Russian Republic, where Yeltsin won a of agriculture; Mikhail Gorbachev, who had credited with popular election, began to shake Soviet victory become General Secretary of off centralised control. Power in the Second the Communist Party of the began to shift from the Soviet World War; held Soviet Union in 1985, sought centre to the republics, especially responsible for to reform this system. Reforms in the more Europeanised part the Great Terror were necessary to keep the USSR of the 1930s, of the Soviet Union, which saw authoritarian abreast of the information and themselves as sovereign states. functioning and technological revolutions taking The Central Asian republics elimination of place in the West. However, did not ask for independence rivals within the Gorbachev’s decision to normalise and wanted to remain with the party. relations with the West and Soviet Federation. In December democratise and refor m the 1991, under the leadership of Soviet Union had some other Yeltsin, Russia, Ukraine and effects that neither he nor anyone Belarus, three major republics else intended or anticipated. The of the USSR, declared that the people in the East European Soviet Union was disbanded. The countries which were part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Soviet bloc started to protest Union was banned. Capitalism against their own governments and democracy were adopted and Soviet control. Unlike in the as the bases for the post-Soviet past, the Soviet Union, under republics. 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 3 14 September 2022 11:01:41  4 Contemporary World Politics A Communist Party bureaucrat drives down from Moscow to a collective farm to register a potato harvest. “Comrade farmer, how has the harvest been this year?” the official asks. LEADERS OF THE “Oh, by the grace of God, we had mountains of potatoes,” answers the SOVIET UNION farmer. “But there is no God,” counters the official. “Huh”, says the farmer, “And there are no mountains of potatoes either.” The declaration on the there may be more general disintegration of the USSR and the lessons to be drawn from this formation of the Commonwealth of very important case. Independent States (CIS) came as There is no doubt that a surprise to the other republics, Nikita Khrushchev the inter nal weaknesses of (1894-1971) especially to the Central Asian Soviet political and economic Leader of the ones. The exclusion of these institutions, which failed to meet Soviet Union republics was an issue that was (1953-64); the aspirations of the people, were quickly solved by making them denounced responsible for the collapse of founding members of the CIS. Stalin’s leadership the system. Economic stagnation Russia was now accepted as style and for many years led to severe introduced the successor state of the Soviet consumer shortages and a large some reforms in Union. It inherited the Soviet seat in the UN Security Council. Russia section of Soviet society began to 1956; suggested “peaceful accepted all the international doubt and question the system coexistence” treaties and commitments of the and to do so openly. with the West; Soviet Union. It took over as the Why did the system become involved in suppressing only nuclear state of the post- so weak and why did the economy popular rebellion Soviet space and carried out some stagnate? The answer is partially in Hungary and in nuclear disarmament measures c l e a r. T h e S o v i e t e c o n o m y the Cuban missile with the US. The old Soviet Union used much of its resources in crisis. was thus dead and buried. maintaining a nuclear and military arsenal and the development of its Why did the Soviet Union satellite states in Eastern Europe and within the Soviet system (the Disintegrate? five Central Asian Republics in How did the second most particular). This led to a huge powerful country in the world economic burden that the system suddenly disintegrate? This is a could not cope with. At the same question worth asking not just to time, ordinary citizens became I am amazed! How understand the Soviet Union and more knowledgeable about the could so many the end of communism but also economic advance of the West. sensitive people because it is not the first and may They could see the disparities all over the world not be the last political system to between their system and the admire a system like collapse. While there are unique systems of the West. After years this? features of the Soviet collapse, of being told that the Soviet 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 4 14 September 2022 11:01:41  The End of Bipolarity 5 system was better than Western impossible to control. There were capitalism, the reality of its sections of Soviet society which backwardness came as a political felt that Gorbachev should have and psychological shock. moved much faster and were disappointed and impatient with LEADERS OF THE The Soviet Union had become SOVIET UNION his methods. They did not benefit stagnant in an administrative in the way they had hoped, and political sense as well. The or they benefited too slowly. Communist Party that had ruled Others, especially members of the the Soviet Union for over 70 Communist Party and those who years was not accountable to were served by the system, took the people. Ordinary people exactly the opposite view. They were alienated by slow and felt that their power and privileges stifling administration, rampant were eroding and Gorbachev was corruption, the inability of the Leonid Brezhnev system to correct mistakes it had moving too quickly. In this ‘tug (1906-82) made, the unwillingness to allow of war’, Gorbachev lost support Leader of the more openness in government, on all sides and divided public Soviet Union (1964- and the centralisation of authority opinion. Even those who were 82); proposed with him became disillusioned as Asian Collective in a vast land. Worse still, the they felt that he did not adequately Security system; party bureaucrats gained more associated with privileges than ordinary citizens. defend his own policies. the détente phase People did not identify with the All this might not have led to in relations with system and with the rulers, and the collapse of the Soviet Union the US; involved the government increasingly lost but for another development that in suppressing a popular backing. popular rebellion surprised most observers and in Czechoslovakia Gorbachev’s reforms promised indeed many insiders. The rise and in invading to deal with these problems. of nationalism and the desire Afghanistan. Gorbachev promised to reform the for sovereignty within various economy, catch up with the West, republics including Russia and and loosen the administrative the Baltic Republics (Estonia, system. You may wonder why the Latvia and Lithuania), Ukraine, Soviet Union collapsed in spite of Georgia, and others proved to Gorbachev’s accurate diagnosis be the final and most immediate of the problem and his attempt cause for the disintegration of to implement reforms. Here is the USSR. Here again there are where the answers become more differing views. controversial, and we have to One view is that nationalist depend on future historians to urges and feelings were very much guide us better. at work throughout the history of The most basic answer seems the Soviet Union and that whether to be that when Gorbachev carried or not the reforms had occurred out his reforms and loosened the there would have been an internal system, he set in motion forces and struggle within the Soviet Union. expectations that few could have This is a ‘what-if’ of history, but predicted and became virtually surely it is not an unreasonable 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 5 14 September 2022 11:01:41  6 Contemporary World Politics view given the size and diversity of Ironically, during the Cold War the Soviet Union and its growing many thought that nationalist internal problems. Others think unrest would be strongest in the that Gorbachev’s reforms speeded Central Asian republics given their LEADERS OF THE up and increased nationalist ethnic and religious differences SOVIET UNION dissatisfaction to the point that with the rest of the Soviet Union the government and rulers could and their economic backwardness. not control it. However, as things turned out, TIMELINE OF DISINTEGRATION OF THE SOVIET UNION 1985 March: Mikhail Gorbachev elected as the General Secretary of the Mikhail Communist Party of the Soviet Union; appoints Boris Yeltsin as the head of the Gorbachev Communist Party in Moscow; initiates a series of reforms in the Soviet Union (Born 1931) Last leader 1988 June: Independence movement begins in Lithuania; later spreads to of the Soviet Estonia and Latvia Union (1985- 91); introduced 1989 October: Soviet Union declares that the Warsaw Pact members are free economic to decide their own futures; Berlin Wall falls in November and political reform policies 1990 February: Gorbachev strips the Soviet Communist Party of its 72-year-long of perestroika monopoly on power by calling on the Soviet parliament (Duma) to permit (restructuring) multi-party politics and glasnost (openness); 1990 March: Lithuania becomes the first of the 15 Soviet republics to declare stopped the its independence arms race with the US; withdrew 1990 June: Russian parliament declares its independence from the Soviet Union Soviet troops from Afghanistan and 1991 June: Yeltsin, no longer in the Communist Party, becomes the President eastern Europe; of Russia helped in the unification of 1991 August: The Communist Party hardliners stage an abortive coup against Germany; ended Gorbachev the Cold War; blamed for the 1991 September: Three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania become disintegration of UN members (later join NATO in March 2004) the Soviet Union. 1991 December: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine decide to annul the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and establish the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the CIS (Georgia joins later in 1993); Russia takes over the USSR seat in the United Nations 1991 December 25: Gorbachev resigns as the President of the Soviet Union; the end of the Soviet Union 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 6 15-03-2024 11:45:32  The End of Bipolarity 7 nationalist dissatisfaction with the changed. The end of the Cold War Soviet Union was strongest in the left open only two possibilities: more “European” and prosperous either the remaining superpower part – in Russia and the Baltic would dominate and create a areas as well as Ukraine and unipolar system, or different LEADERS OF THE Georgia. Ordinary people here countries or groups of countries SOVIET UNION felt alienated from the Central could become important players Asians and from each other and in the international system, concluded also that they were thereby bringing in a multipolar paying too high an economic price system where no one power could to keep the more backward areas dominate. As it turned out, the within the Soviet Union. US became the sole superpower. Backed by the power and prestige of the US, the capitalist economy was Consequences of now the dominant economic system Boris Yeltsin Disintegration internationally. Institutions like (1931-2007) the World Bank and International The first elected The collapse of the second world of Monetary Fund became powerful President of the Soviet Union and the socialist advisors to all these countries Russia (1991- since they gave them loans for their 1999); rose to systems in eastern Europe had power in the profound consequences for world transitions to capitalism. Politically, Communist politics. Let us note here three the notion of liberal democracy Party and was broad kinds of enduring changes emerged as the best way to organise made the Mayor that resulted from it. Each of political life. of Moscow by these had a number of effects that Gorbachev; later Third, the end of the Soviet bloc joined the critics we cannot list here. meant the emergence of many new of Gorbachev countries. All these countries had and left the First of all, it meant the end their own independent aspirations Communist Party; of Cold War confrontations. The and choices. Some of them, led the protests ideological dispute over whether against the Soviet especially the Baltic and east the socialist system would beat European states, wanted to join regime in 1991; the capitalist system was not an the European Union and become played a key issue any more. Since this dispute role in dissolving part of the North Atlantic Treaty had engaged the military of the the Soviet Union; Organisation (NATO). The Central blamed for two blocs, had triggered a massive Asian countries wanted to take hardships suffered arms race and accumulation of advantage of their geographical by Russians in nuclear weapons, and had led to location and continue their close their transition the existence of military blocs, ties with Russia and also to from communism the end of the confrontation establish ties with the West, to capitalism. demanded an end to this arms the US, China and others. Thus, race and a possible new peace. the international system saw many new players emerge, each Second, power relations in with its own identity, interests, world politics changed and, and economic and political therefore, the relative influence difficulties. It is to these issues of ideas and institutions also that we now turn. 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 7 14 September 2022 11:01:43  8 Contemporary World Politics Shock Therapy in Each of these countries was required to make a total shift Post-Communist Regimes to a capitalist economy, which The collapse of communism was meant rooting out completely followed in most of these countries any structures evolved during the by a painful process of transition Soviet period. Above all, it meant from an authoritarian socialist that private ownership was to be system to a democratic capitalist the dominant pattern of ownership system. The model of transition of property. Privatisation of state I heard someone in Russia, Central Asia and east assets and corporate ownership say “The end of the Soviet Union does Europe that was influenced by patterns were to be immediately not mean the end the World Bank and the IMF came brought in. Collective farms were of socialism.” Is that to be known as ‘shock therapy’. to be replaced by private farming possible? Shock therapy varied in intensity and capitalism in agriculture. and speed amongst the former This transition ruled out any second world countries, but its alternate or ‘third way’, other direction and features were quite than state-controlled socialism similar. or capitalism. Map of Central, Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States Locate the Central Asian Republics on Source: https://www.unicef.org/hac2012/images/HAC2012_CEE-CIS_map_REVISED.gif the map. Note: The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 8 14 September 2022 11:01:44  The End of Bipolarity 9 Shock therapy also involved were put up for sale to private a drastic change in the external individuals and companies. orientation of these economies. Since the restructuring was Development was now envisaged carried out through market through more trade, and thus a forces and not by government- sudden and complete switch to free directed industrial policies, it trade was considered essential. led to the virtual disappearance The free trade regime and foreign of entire industries. This was direct investment (FDI) were to be called ‘the largest garage sale in the main engines of change. This history’, as valuable industries also involved openness to foreign were undervalued and sold at investment, financial opening up throwaway prices. Though all or deregulation, and currency citizens were given vouchers to convertibility. participate in the sales, most citizens sold their vouchers in Finally, the transition also the black market because they involved a break up of the needed the money. existing trade alliances among the countries of the Soviet bloc. The value of the ruble, the Each state from this bloc was now Russian currency, declined linked directly to the West and not dramatically. The rate of inflation to each other in the region. These was so high that people lost states were thus to be gradually all their savings. The collective a b s o r b e d i n t o t h e We s t e r n farm system disintegrated leaving economic system. The Western people without food security, and Russia started to import food. The capitalist states now became real GDP of Russia in 1999 was the leaders and thus guided and below what it was in 1989. The old controled the development of the trading structure broke down with region through various agencies no alternative in its place. and organisations. The old system of social welfare was systematically destroyed. Consequences of Shock The withdrawal of government Therapy subsidies pushed large sections of the people into poverty. The The shock therapy administered middle classes were pushed to in the 1990s did not lead the the periphery of society, and people into the promised utopia the academic and intellectual of mass consumption. Generally, manpower disintegrated or it brought ruin to the economies migrated. A mafia emerged in and disaster upon the people of most of these countries and I can see the shock. the entire region. In Russia, the started controlling many economic But where is the large state-controlled industrial activities. Privatisation led to new therapy? Why do disparities. Post-Soviet states, we talk in such complex almost collapsed, as euphemisms? about 90 per cent of its industries especially Russia, were divided 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 9 14 September 2022 11:01:44  10 Contemporary World Politics between rich and poor regions. Tensions and Conflicts Unlike the earlier system, Most of the former Soviet there was now great economic Republics are prone to conflicts, inequality between people. and many have had civil wars The construction of and insurgencies. Complicating As a result of democratic institutions was the picture is the growing ‘shock therapy’ not given the same attention involvement of outside powers. about half of Russia’s 1,500 and priority as the demands In Russia, two republics, banks and other of economic transformation. Chechnya and Dagestan, finacial institutions The constitutions of all these have had violent secessionist went bankrupt. countries were drafted in a hurry movements. Moscow’s method of This image is that and most, including Russia, had dealing with the Chechen rebels of Inkombank, Russia’s second a strong executive president with and indiscriminate military largest bank, that the widest possible powers that bombings have led to many went bankrupt in rendered elected parliaments human rights violations but 1998. As a result, relatively weak. In Central Asia, failed to deter the aspirations for the money of the presidents had great powers, independence. 10,000 corporate and several of them became very and private In Central Asia, Tajikistan shareholders was authoritarian. For example, the witnessed a civil war that went on lost, along with presidents of Turkmenistan and for ten years till 2001. The region the money kept Uzbekistan appointed themselves as a whole has many sectarian in the bank by to power first for ten years and customers. conflicts. In Azerbaijan’s province then extended it for another ten of Nagorno-Karabakh, some years. They allowed no dissent or local Armenians want to secede opposition. A judicial culture and and join Armenia. In Georgia, independence of the judiciary the demand for independence was yet to be established in most has come from two provinces, of these countries. resulting in a civil war. There are Most of these economies, movements against the existing especially Russia, started regimes in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan reviving in 2000, ten years and Georgia. Countries and after their independence. The provinces are fighting over reason for the revival for most river waters. All this has led to of their economies was the instability, making life difficult export of natural resources like for the ordinary citizen. What is the difference oil, natural gas and minerals. The Central Asian Republics between nationalism Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, are areas with vast hydrocarbon and secessionism? Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan resources, which have brought If you succeed, you are major oil and gas producers. them economic benefit. Central are celebrated as a Other countries have gained Asia has also become a zone of nationalist hero, and because of the oil pipelines that competition between outside if you fail you are condemned for crimes cross their territories for which powers and oil companies. The of secessionism. they get rent. Some amount of region is next to Russia, China, manufacturing has restarted. Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 10 14 September 2022 11:01:44  The End of Bipolarity 11 close to West Asia. After 11 embedded in a history of trust Make a list of September 2001, the US wanted and common interests and are the similarities military bases in the region matched by popular perceptions. between and paid the governments of all Indian heroes from Raj Kapoor to India and the Central Asian states to hire bases Amitabh Bachchan are household USSR in their and to allow airplanes to fly over names in Russia and many post- political and their territory during the wars in Soviet countries. One can hear economic Afghanistan and Iraq. However, Hindi film songs all over the ideologies. Russia perceives these states as region, and India is part of the its ‘Near Abroad’ and believes that popular memory. they should be under Russian Russia and India share a vision influence. China has interests of a multipolar world order. What here because of the oil resources, they mean by a multipolar world and the Chinese have begun to settle around the borders and conduct trade. BOLLYWOOD STIRS UZBEK In eastern Europe, PASSIONS Czechoslovakia split peacefully Seven years after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Uzbek into two, with the Czechs and passion for Indian films continues. Within months of the the Slovaks forming independent release of the latest film in India, pirate copies were already countries. But the most severe on sale in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. conflict took place in the Balkan Mohammed Sharif Pat runs a shop selling Indian films near republics of Yugoslavia. After one of Tashkent’s biggest markets. He is an Afghan who 1991, it broke apart with several brings videos from the Pakistani frontier town Peshawar. provinces like Croatia, Slovenia “There are many people who love Indian films here. I’d say and Bosnia and Herzegovina at least 70% of the people in Tashkent buy them. We sell declaring independence. Ethnic about 100 videos a day. I’ve just had to put in an order for Serbs opposed this, and a a thousand more,” he says. “The Uzbeks are Central Asians, massacre of non-Serb Bosnians they are part of Asia. They have a common culture. That’s followed. The NATO intervention why they like Indian films.” and the bombing of Yugoslavia Despite the shared history, for many Indians living in followed the inter-ethnic civil war. Uzbekistan, the passion the Uzbeks have for their films and film stars has come as a bit of a surprise. “Wherever we go and meet local dignitaries - even ministers or cabinet ministers - India and Post-communist during our conversation it is always mentioned,” says Ashok Shamer from the Indian embassy in Tashkent. “This shows Countries that Indian films, culture, songs and especially Raj Kapoor have been household names here. Most of them can sing India has maintained good some Hindi songs, they may not know the meaning but their relations with all the post- pronunciation is correct and they know the music,” he says. communist countries. But the “I have found out that almost all my neighbours can sing and strongest relations are still those play Hindi songs. This was really a big surprise to me when I between Russia and India. India’s came to Uzbekistan.” relations with Russia are an A report by the BBC’s Central Asia Correspondent Louise Hidalgo important aspect of India’s foreign policy. Indo-Russian relations are 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 11 14 September 2022 11:01:44  12 Contemporary World Politics order is the co-existence of several powers in the FLASHBACK: INDIA international system, collective security (in which an AND THE USSR attack on any country is regarded as a threat to all countries and requires a collective response), greater regionalism, negotiated settlements of international During the Cold War era, India and the USSR enjoyed a special relationship conflicts, an independent foreign policy for all countries, which led critics to say that India was and decision making through bodies like the UN that part of the Soviet camp. It was a multi- should be strengthened, democratised, and empowered. dimensional relationship: More than 80 bilateral agreements have been signed between India and Russia as part of the Indo-Russian Economic: The Soviet Union assisted Strategic Agreement of 2001. India’s public sector companies at a time when such assistance India stands to benefit from its relationship was difficult to get. It gave aid and with Russia on issues like Kashmir, energy supplies, technical assistance for steel plants sharing information on international terrorism, like Bhilai, Bokaro, Visakhapatnam, and machinery plants like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., etc. The Soviet Union accepted Indian currency for trade when India was short of foreign exchange. Political: The Soviet Union supported India’s positions on the Kashmir issue in STEPS the UN. It also supported India during  Select any five Cold War allies each of the Soviet its major conflicts, especially during Union and the US. the war with Pakistan in 1971. India too supported Soviet foreign policy in  Divide the class accordingly (10 groups). Allot some crucial but indirect ways. a country to each group. Assign the group to collect information on the political, social and Military: India received most of its economic profile of these countries during the military hardware from the Soviet Cold War days. Union at a time when few other countries were willing to part with  They should also prepare a profile of that country military technologies. The Soviet Union after the collapse of communism and say what entered into various agreements difference, if any, the disintegration of the allowing India to jointly produce second world made to that country. military equipment.  Each group is to present its findings to the entire Culture: Hindi films and Indian culture class. Ensure that students talk about how were popular in the Soviet Union. A people of these countries felt about themselves large number of Indian writers and as citizens. artists visited the USSR. Ideas for the Teacher  You could link the students’ findings to the working of the democratic system and communist system and highlight the pros and cons of both these systems.  You could encourage the students to discuss if there is an alternative to both communism and capitalism. 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 12 14 September 2022 11:01:45  The End of Bipolarity 13 access to Central Asia, and imports from Russia and the balancing its relations with republics of Kazakhstan and China. Russia stands to benefit Turkmenistan. Cooperation from this relationship because with these republics includes India is the second largest arms partnership and investment in market for Russia. The Indian oilfields. Russia is important military gets most of its hardware for India’s nuclear energy plans from Russia. Since India is an and assisted India’s space oil-importing nation, Russia industry by giving, for example, is important to India and has the cryogenic rocket when India repeatedly come to the assistance needed it. Russia and India have of India during its oil crises. India collaborated on various scientific is seeking to increase its energy projects. 1. Which among the following statements that describe the nature E x e r c i s e s of Soviet economy is wrong? a. Socialism was the dominant ideology b. State ownership/control existed over the factors of production c. People enjoyed economic freedom d. Every aspect of the economy was planned and controlled by the State 2. Arrange the following in chronological order: a. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan b. Fall of the Berlin Wall c. Disintegration of the Soviet Union d. Russian Revolution 3. Which among the following is NOT an outcome of the disintegration of the USSR? a. End of the ideological war between the US and USSR b. Birth of CIS c. Change in the balance of power in the world order d. Crises in the Middle East 4. Match the following: i. Mikhail Gorbachev a. Successor of USSR ii. Shock Therapy b. Military pact iii. Russia c. Introduced reforms iv. Boris Yeltsin d. Economic model v. Warsaw e. President of Russia 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 13 14 September 2022 11:01:45  14 Contemporary World Politics 5. Fill in the blanks. a. The Soviet political system was based on ___________________ ideology. b. _________________ was the military alliance started by the USSR. c. ____________________ party dominated the Soviet Union’s E x e r c i s e s political system. d. ______________________ initiated the reforms in the USSR in 1985. e. The fall of the ____________________ symbolised the end of the Cold War. 6. Mention any three features that distinguish the Soviet economy from that of a capitalist country like the US. 7. What were the factors that forced Gorbachev to initiate the reforms in the USSR? 8. What were the major consequences of the disintegration of the Soviet Union for countries like India? 9. What was Shock Therapy? Was this the best way to make a transition from communism to capitalism? 10. Write an essay for or against the following proposition: “With the disintegration of the second world, India should change its foreign policy and focus more on friendship with the US rather than with traditional friends like Russia”. 2024-25 Chapter 1.indd 14 14 September 2022 11:01:45