Politics – The End of Bipolarity

Vocabulary flashcards covering major concepts, events, and figures related to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of bipolarity.

Arms race

A competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to build superior military power, which drained Soviet resources.

Technological lag (USSR)

The Soviet Union’s chronic inability to keep pace with Western advances in technology, transport, and power infrastructure.

Economic stagnation (late 1970s USSR)

A period when Soviet productivity fell, consumer-goods shortages grew, and the economy ceased to expand.

1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Military intervention that further weakened the Soviet economy and international standing.

Mikhail Gorbachev

General Secretary (1985) who introduced economic and political reforms aimed at modernising and democratising the USSR.

Perestroika and Glasnost

Gorbachev’s reform policies: economic ‘restructuring’ (perestroika) and political ‘openness’ (glasnost).

Soviet Bloc disturbances (late 1980s)

Protests in Eastern European communist states that led to the collapse of their regimes when the USSR chose not to intervene.

Communist Party hardliners

Conservative members who opposed Gorbachev’s reforms and supported the 1991 coup attempt.

1991 Soviet coup attempt

Failed takeover by Communist hardliners that accelerated the break-up of the USSR.

Boris Yeltsin

Elected President of the Russian Republic who became a hero by resisting the 1991 coup and steering Russia toward independence.

Sovereign republics (USSR)

Former Soviet republics, especially in Europe, that demanded full self-government during the USSR’s final years.

December 1991 Belavezha Accords

Agreement by Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus declaring the Soviet Union dissolved and forming the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Disintegration of the USSR

The formal end of the Soviet Union in 1991, leading to 15 independent states.

Post-Soviet capitalism

Economic system adopted by the newly independent republics, replacing state ownership with market principles.

Democratisation (USSR)

The process, initiated under Gorbachev, of introducing competitive elections and political pluralism.