{"product_id":"the-breakdown-of-the-ussr-von-maximilian-spinner","title":"The Breakdown of the USSR","description":"\u003cp\u003eSeminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - Newer History, European Unification, grade: 1 (A), University of Birmingham (Centre for Russian and East European Studies), course: Graduate Soviet Social and Economic History, language: English, abstract: The collapse of the Soviet Union has been one of the most controversially discussed issues\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eamong historians and social scientists throughout the last decade. Paradoxically the imminent\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecollapse of communism had been predicted frequently by Western observers during the early\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyears of the Bolshevik rule. With the victory of the Second World War those voices were\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emuted and the West accomodated with the existence of an obviously stable, mighty and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeconomically expanding country.1 The breakdown of communism in 1991 had been\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eanticipated by few contemporary scholars, although the majority were aware of the symptoms\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof a deep crisis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this essay I will argue that in order to better understand the collapse of communism\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ein the Soviet Union, a central role must be given to the economy and its effects on other areas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost symptoms of the crisis and the ultimate breakdown of the system can in fact be\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eattributed to the impact of economic failure. Whereas, economic modernization was the motor\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof success in the early decades, the economy became the weakest link of the Soviet system in\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe later period as its structural shortcomings deeply effected other areas as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first part of this essay is intended to briefly outline the central role the economy\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eplayed in the development of Soviet socialism. The second part analyses the far-reaching\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eimpact of the economic downturn, while the third part discusses the limits of reform before\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edrawing a conclusion.2\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1 M Cox, ¿Critical Reflections on Soviet Studies¿, in: M Cox (ed.), Rethinking the Soviet Collapse, L: Pinter,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1998, p 27.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2 The author is aware that in the given scope of this essay only a minor and not necessarily representatitve\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efraction of the debates and works on the collapes of Soviet Communism can be touched on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"aw-variant-hidden-subtitle-div\" id=\"aw-variant-subtitle-9783638757942\"\u003e\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Libri","offers":[{"title":"Softcover - 9783638757942","offer_id":39438853374045,"sku":"9783638757942","price":15.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0940\/0622\/files\/a4c915da-1113-4b82-b702-ff80407604d5.jpg?v=1777353738","url":"https:\/\/shop.autorenwelt.de\/products\/the-breakdown-of-the-ussr-von-maximilian-spinner","provider":"Autorenwelt Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}