The End of Bipolarity

What was bipolarity?

Bipolarity means a world with two poles, or two strong power centres. After the Second World War these were the USA (capitalist, market economy) and the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, communist, state-run economy). Their long rivalry without a direct war was the Cold War. The USSR led the second world: the socialist countries of eastern Europe, joined in the Warsaw Pact.

The Soviet system

Features

• The Communist Party was the only party. It controlled the government.
• The state owned land, factories and banks and planned what to make.
• Every citizen got a minimum standard of living: jobs, housing, health care, schools and child care were cheap or free.
• It had advanced industry, a strong army, space science and nuclear weapons.

Weaknesses

• Heavy bureaucracy (officials and rules) and little freedom of speech.
• People could not choose their leaders in real elections.
• The economy stagnated (stopped growing); there were shortages and queues for food.
• Russia dominated the other republics, and their people felt ignored.
• Huge spending on weapons and on satellite states, and a costly war in Afghanistan (1979-89).

Gorbachev and the break-up

Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985. He wanted to reform, not end, the system.

• Perestroika = restructuring the economy.
• Glasnost = openness; people could speak and the press could criticise.
• He made peace moves with the West and pulled the army out of Afghanistan.

Eastern European countries threw out their communist governments in 1989, and the Berlin Wall fell. A group of hardliners tried a coup in August 1991; people led by Boris Yeltsin resisted it. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus announced the end of the USSR, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was formed. In December 1991 the USSR ended and split into 15 independent countries. Russia became its successor and took its UN Security Council seat.

Why did the USSR break up? (causes)

1. Economic weakness: money went into weapons and satellite states; people's needs were not met.
2. Political weakness: one party, no accountability, a slow bureaucracy.
3. Reforms raised hopes: once people could speak, they wanted faster change than Gorbachev gave.
4. Nationalism: republics such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Georgia wanted their own nations. Many experts see this as the most important cause.
5. Information: people learnt that the West was richer and freer.

Effects (consequences) of the break-up

• End of the Cold War and of the arms race.
• The world became unipolar: the USA was the only superpower.
• Capitalism and liberal democracy became the main model; the IMF and World Bank grew powerful.
• New countries were born: the Baltic states, Central Asian states and others. Some joined the European Union and NATO.
• Some new states had conflicts (for example, Chechnya in Russia, and a civil war in Tajikistan), and the old Yugoslavia broke up with violence.

Shock therapy

Shock therapy was the sudden change from a communist to a capitalist economy in Russia, Central Asia and eastern Europe in the 1990s. It was guided by the World Bank and the IMF.

What it did

• Private ownership replaced state ownership (privatisation).
• Collective farms became private farms.
• Trade was opened to the West, and links with old Soviet partners were cut.

Results

• About 90% of industries were sold, often to rich people at very low prices: 'the largest garage sale in history'.
• The Russian rouble lost value and prices rose very fast.
• The welfare system broke down; many lost jobs, and food became scarce.
• A mafia and a small rich class grew, and inequality rose.
• Constitutions were written in a hurry; strong presidents ruled.

From 2000 Russia's economy recovered, mainly by exporting oil and gas.

New states and tensions

The 15 new states include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, the Caucasus states (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) and five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan). Many faced ethnic tension, weak democracy and disputes over rivers and oil. Central Asia became important for its oil and gas, and outside powers tried to win influence there.

India's ties with Russia and post-Soviet states

• India and Russia share a vision of a multipolar world: many power centres, co-operation and a stronger UN.
• Defence: most of India's military equipment has come from Russia; the two build items together.
• Energy: Russia supplies oil and gas; it helped build nuclear power plants.
• Diplomacy: Russia has supported India on Kashmir and on a permanent UN Security Council seat.
• Science and space: joint projects.
• With Central Asian states (e.g. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan) India works on energy, trade and security.

Try it yourself

Take a stack of 15 coins as one 'union'. Pull out one coin at a time and name a new country each time. Then list one cause and one effect for the pile falling apart. Now move the shock-therapy slider in the 3D and say which bar rises and which fall.

Key formulas and definitions

• Bipolarity: two power centres (USA and USSR)
• Unipolarity: one power centre (USA after 1991)
• Glasnost = openness; Perestroika = restructuring
• Shock therapy = sudden shift to capitalism (1990s)
• CIS = Commonwealth of Independent States
• USSR ended: December 1991, 15 new countries

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Saying Gorbachev wanted to end communism. He wanted to reform it; the break-up went further than he planned.
• Writing that the USSR broke into 12 or 16 countries. It was 15.
• Mixing up glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).
• Calling shock therapy a success. It caused huge hardship; recovery came later, mainly through oil and gas.