Internal Causes Were More Important Than External Ones At The Fall Of The USSR And The End Of Communism, How Far Do You Agree With This Statement?

The Soviet Union was a federal state consisting of 15 separate republics each with its own parliament. The USSR‘s sphere of influence was spread all over western Europe. All power was concentrated into the hands of the Communist party. Free press and civil liberties were suppressed. There was state ownership of the economy, no private enterprise was allowed. The Communist Party invaded and controlled every aspect of political, social, cultural and economic life. But at the end of the 1980’s the power of the soviet union, started to fall, and it’s satellite countries started making nationalistic movements to show they wanted more independence.

Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980 and his aim was to restore national pride and confidence. At a time when the USA appeared to be failing, as the economy was in depression, inflation, unemployment and interest rates were at high records. He contributed to revive cold war tensions and opposed the freeze. He authorized a massive expansion of weapons while at the same time challenging the USSR to end the arms race. Reagan, started a verbal and military challenge against the USSR. He also announced the Strategic Defense Initiative. His military challenge was essential for military balance and was a strategy to break the USSR economy, by making them overspend. Some saw him as a “hero”, whose policies fastened the end of the cold war. His challenge to communism was an ideological crusade against a system he believed threatened world freedom. Ronald Reagan administration was effective as he gave up the containment policy and instead tried to bring up victory of the West and the collapse of the “Evil Empire”. On the other hand the end of the Cold War can be seen as a reflection not primarily of the policies of the Reagan administration, but rather the general containment policy pursued by all the American presidents from Truman to Reagan. But in fact, this policies could have not been effective, without Gorvachev abandoning the old Marxist-leninist ideology.

The USSR had huge economic and political problems. The USSR was compelled to spend in order to keep up with the USA. In 1985 Gorbachev came to power. He intended to achieve his aims through the modernization of the Communist Party with new policies: He implemented “Glasnost” and “Perestroika”. Its aim was to give more rights and freedoms to the Soviet people, and to reconstruct it’s political and economical system. “Glasnost” was a policy with a social integration objective. Basically it focused on; freedom of expression, to mobilize support for the new policies and to educate public opinion. This led to a decreased censoring of the media, which allowed writers and journalists to expose government corruption and depressed condition of the Soviet people. “Perestroika” was aimed to a reconstruction of the political and economical system. Politically, democratic practices were implemented on Western society and allow citizens to have a slight say in government. Economically, it focused on the de-monopolization and some semi-private businesses were able to function, ending the price controls established by the government. The goal was to create a semi-free market system. Unfortunately, such an economy took time to success. This didn’t succeed, so it led to strikes, and civil disorder. But in the other hand, this policy was successful because it advanced towards

...