Collapse of USSR and Gorbachev

Gorbachev's reform approach

Abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine for the Sinatra Doctrine, insisting on "reforms without blood"; perestroika was inspired by Lenin's New Economic Policy

Structural economic problems creating need for perestroika

Low productivity in state-run companies (alcoholism in the workforce), rife government corruption, a lack of basic consumer items, and a large military budget

US defence spending pressuring the USSR

Reagan's 'peace through strength' led to an increase from $171 billion (1981) to $229 billion (1985); Strategic Defense Initiative announced in 1983

Oil price collapse

Dropped from $27 (1986) to under $10, straining Soviet exports

Peter Boettke on perestroika

Economist argued the reforms in the short run lowered quality of life, which Soviets couldn't handle

Economic effects of perestroika

Decentralising prices led to inflation of 19% and 2 million unemployed in 1990; allowed small businesses, decentralisation of prices, and borrowing $12 billion from the West 1985-87

Resistance to perestroika

From the working class (feared for jobs), the military (feared for budgets) and economic bureaucrats (feared for reputations)

Private employment statistic

By 1988, only 750,000 people out of 135 million workers were employed in new privately run companies

Glasnost quote

"We are still on the leash and the dog dish is still too far away, but now we can bark as loud as we want"

Freedom of press under glasnost

Dissident Andrei Sakharov (nuclear scientist) released in 1986

Political organisations statistic

By 1987: 30,000 political organisations existed outside the umbrella of the Communist Party

Rise of 'informals'

Groups with alternative political ideas; Warsaw Pact nations criticised Honecker's government for inefficiency; the Solidarity Movement removed Jaruzelski from power

Glasnost across the Eastern bloc

In Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and East Germany, greater transparency and free speech allowed pro-democracy demonstrations

Baltic independence

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declared their independence in the spring of 1990

Electoral reforms in the USSR

First elections to the Congress of the People's Deputies held in March 1989 (2,250 deputies); first multi-party elections held in December 1990

Chernobyl disaster

26 April 1986 - the 18-day cover-up of the disaster, which caused 8,000 deaths, created distrust of the government

Attempted coup

19 August 1991 - aimed to reverse Gorbachev's reforms but was perceived as unstable from lack of popular support

Yeltsin during the coup

President of the Russian Federation (10 July 1991) appeared as a hero, calling Gorbachev an "irreversible character" and the plotters as wanting to "return us to Cold War era"

Russian laws over Soviet laws

In June 1991, the Congress of the Russian Republic declared Russian laws would take precedence over Soviet ones

Aftermath of the coup

Within a week, Ukraine and Belarus had declared independence; 25 December Russia affirmed independence and Gorbachev relinquished his duties on the 26th

Belovezha Accords

8 December 1991 - Commonwealth of Independent States replaced the USSR and dissolved the Union Treaty of 1922