ASSIGNMENT

CLASS XII

CHP: END OF BIPOLARITY

Q1. Mention the significance of Berlin Wall.

A1.

• The Berlin Wall symbolised the division between the capitalist and the communist world.
• Built in 1961 to separate East Berlin from West Berlin, this more than 150 kilometre long wall stood for
28 years and was finally broken by the people on 9 November 1989.
• This marked the unification of the two parts of Germany and the beginning of the end of the communist
bloc.
• The Berlin Wall, which had been built at the height of the Cold War and was its greatest symbol, was
toppled by the people in 1989. This dramatic event was followed by the collapse of the ‘second
world’ and the end of the Cold War.
• Germany, divided after the Second World War, was unified.
• One after another, the eight East European countries that were part of the Soviet bloc replaced
their communist governments in response to mass demonstrations.

Q2. What was Soviet System?

A2.

• The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) came into being after the socialist revolution in
Russia in 1917.
• The revolution was inspired by the ideals of socialism, as opposed to capitalism, and the need for an
egalitarian society that is a society based on principles of equality.
• The Soviet political system centred around the communist party, and no other political party or
opposition was allowed.
• The economy was planned and controlled by the state.
• After the Second World War, the east European countries that the Soviet army came under the
control of the USSR. The political and the economic systems of all these countries were modeled after
the USSR.
• This group of countries was called the Second World or the ‘socialist bloc’. The Warsaw Pact, a
military alliance, held them together. The USSR was the leader of the bloc.

Q3. ‘The Soviet Union became a great power after the Second World War.’ Explain.

OR

‘The Soviet economy was then more developed than the rest of the world except for the US.’ Elaborate.

A3.

• It had a complex communications network, vast energy resources including oil, iron and steel,
machinery production, and a transport sector that connected its remotest areas with efficiency.
 • It had a domestic consumer industry that produced everything from pins to cars, though their quality
did not match that of the Western capitalist countries.
• The Soviet state ensured a minimum standard of living for all citizens, and the government subsidized
basic necessities including health, education, childcare and other welfare schemes.
• There was no unemployment. State ownership was the dominant form of ownership: land and
productive assets were owned and controlled by the Soviet state.

COMPLEX COMMUNICATION NETWORK VAST ENERGY RESOURCES

VIBRANT CONSUMER INDUSTRY

USSR:
TRANSPORT SECTOR
POSITIVE
ENSURANCE OF ALL BASIC NEEDS NO UNEMPLOYMENT

Q4. ‘The Soviet system, however, became very bureaucratic and authoritarian, making life very difficult
for its citizens.’ Elucidate.

A4.

• Lack of democracy and the absence of freedom of speech stifled people who often expressed their
dislike or discomfort in jokes and cartoons.
• Most of the institutions of the Soviet state needed reform: the one-party system represented by
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had tight control over all institutions and was
unaccountable to the people.
• The party refused to recognise the urge of people in the fifteen different republics that formed the Soviet
Union to manage their own affairs including their cultural affairs.
• Although, on paper, Russia was only one of the fifteen republics that together constituted the USSR, in
reality Russia dominated everything, and people from other regions felt neglected and often
suppressed.
• In the arms race, the Soviet Union managed to match the US from time to time, but at great cost.
The Soviet Union lagged behind the West in technology, infrastructure (e.g., transport, power), and
most importantly, in fulfilling the political or economic aspirations of citizens.
• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 weakened the system even further. Though wages
continued to grow, productivity and technology fell considerably behind that of the West.
• This led to shortages in all consumer goods. Food imports increased every year. The Soviet
economy was faltering in the late 1970s and became stagnant.
 INCREASE IN
PROBLEMS FACED IN USSR FOOD IMPORTS

LACK OF DEMO. &

ABSENCE OF FREEDOM LAGGED IN TECH.

OF SPEECH CP REFUSED TO RECOGNISE SHORTAGE OF CONSUMER GOODS

INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF COUNTRIES

EXPRESSED IN CARTOONS

DOMINATION OF RUSSIA

TIGHT CONTROL OF CP

LEAD TO

UNACCOUNTABILITY

Q5. Write a note on ‘Gorbachev and the disintegration’.

A5.

Mikhail Gorbachev

OR

‘These developments were accompanied by a rapidly escalating crisis within the USSR that hastened its
disintegration.’ What were these developments?

• Mikhail Gorbachev, who had become General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union in 1985, sought to reform this system.
• Reforms were necessary to keep the USSR abreast of the information and technological
revolutions taking place in the West.
• However, Gorbachev’s decision to normalize relations with the West and democratise and reform the
Soviet Union had some other effects.
• The people in the East European countries which were part of the Soviet bloc started to protest
against their own governments and Soviet control.
• Unlike in the past, the Soviet Union, under Gorbachev, did not intervene when the disturbances
occurred, and the communist regimes collapsed one after another Gorbachev initiated the policies of
economic and political reform and democratisation within the country.
• The reforms were opposed by leaders within the Communist Party.
Boris Yeltstin

• A coup took place in 1991 that was encouraged by Communist Party hardliners. The people had tasted
freedom by then and did not want the old-style rule of the Communist Party.
• Boris Yeltsin emerged as a national hero in opposing this coup. The Russian Republic, where
Yeltsin won a popular election, began to shake off centralised control.
• Power began to shift from the Soviet centre to the republics, especially in the more Europeanised part
of the Soviet Union, which saw themselves as sovereign states.
• In December 1991, under the leadership of Yeltsin, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, three major
republics of the USSR, declared that the Soviet Union was disbanded.
• The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was banned. Capitalism and democracy were adopted as
the bases for the post-Soviet republics.

Creation of CIS

OR

‘The old Soviet Union was thus dead and buried.’ Elaborate.

• The declaration on the disintegration of the USSR and the formation of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) came as a surprise to the other republics, especially to the Central Asian
ones.
• Russia was now accepted as the successor state of the Soviet Union.
• It inherited the Soviet seat in the UN Security Council. Russia accepted all the international treaties
and commitments of the Soviet Union.
• It took over as the only nuclear state of the post- Soviet space and carried out some nuclear
disarmament measures with the US.

Q6. Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate?

OR

How did the second most powerful country in the world suddenly disintegrate?

OR

Why did the Soviet system become so weak and why did the economy stagnate?

A6.

Introduction

• There is no doubt that the internal weaknesses of Soviet political and economic institutions, which
failed to meet the aspirations of the people, were responsible for the collapse of the system.
• Economic stagnation for many years led to severe consumer shortages and a large section of Soviet
society began to doubt and question the system and to do so openly.

Economic Reasons
 • The Soviet economy used much of its resources in maintaining a nuclear and military arsenal
and the development of its satellite states in Eastern Europe and within the Soviet system.
• This led to a huge economic burden that the system could not cope with. At the same time,
ordinary citizens became more knowledgeable about the economic advancements of the West.
• After years of being told that the Soviet system was better than Western capitalism, the reality of
its backwardness came as a political and psychological shock.

Political Reasons

• The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense as well. The
Communist Party that had ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable to the people.
• Ordinary people were alienated by slow and stifling administration, rampant corruption, the inability of
the system to correct mistakes it had made, the unwillingness to allow more openness in government,
and the centralization of authority in a vast land.
• Worse still, the party bureaucrats gained more privileges than ordinary citizens.

Gorbachev’s Failed Reforms and Lack of Support

• When Gorbachev carried out his reforms and loosened the system, the situations became impossible to
control.
• There were sections of Soviet society which felt that Gorbachev should have moved much faster and
were disappointed and impatient with his methods. They did not benefit in the way they had hoped, or
they benefited too slowly.
• Others, especially members of the Communist Party and those who were served by the system, took
exactly the opposite view. They felt that their power and privileges were eroding and Gorbachev was
moving too quickly.
• In this ‘tug of war’, Gorbachev lost support on all sides and divided public opinion. Even those who
were with him became disillusioned as they felt that he did not adequately defend his own policies.

Conclusion: Rise of Nationalism

• The rise of nationalism and the desire for sovereignty within various republics including Russia and the
Baltic Republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), Ukraine, Georgia, and others proved to be the final and
most immediate cause for the disintegration of the USSR.

Q7. ‘The collapse of the second world of the Soviet Union and the socialist systems in eastern Europe had
profound consequences for world politics.’ Elucidate.

OR

Mention about the three broad kinds of enduring changes that resulted from the disintegration of USSR.

A7. First Consequence

• First of all, it meant the end of Cold War confrontations. The dispute over whether the socialist system
would beat the capitalist system was not an issue any more.
• The end of the confrontation demanded an end to this arms race and a possible new peace.

Second Consequence
 • Second, power relations in world politics changed. As it turned out, the US became the sole
superpower.
• Backed by the power and prestige of the US, the capitalist economy was now the dominant economic
system internationally. Politically, the notion of liberal democracy emerged as the best way to organise
political life.

Third Consequence

• Third, the end of the Soviet bloc meant the emergence of many new countries. All these countries had
their own independent aspirations and choices.
• The international system saw many new players emerge, each with its own identity, interests, and
economic and political difficulties.

Q8. What do you mean by ‘shock therapy’? Mention its features.

OR

‘Shock therapy varied in intensity and speed amongst the former second world countries, but its direction and
features were quite similar.’ Elucidate.

A8. Shock Therapy

• The collapse of communism was followed in most of these countries by a painful process of transition
from an authoritarian socialist system to a democratic capitalist system.
• The model of transition in Russia, Central Asia and east Europe that was influenced by the World
Bank and the IMF came to be known as ‘shock therapy’.

AUTHORITARIAN DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALIST SYSTEM TRANSITION (CHANGE) CAPITALIST SYSTEM

CONCEPT DEPICTION OF SHOCK THERAPY

Features

• Private ownership was to be the dominant pattern of ownership of property. Privatisation of state
assets and corporate ownership patterns were to be immediately brought in.
• Collective farms were to be replaced by private farming and capitalism in agriculture. This transition
ruled out any alternate or ‘third way’, other than state-controlled socialism or capitalism.
• The free trade regime and foreign direct investment (FDI) were to be the main engines of change.
• This also involved openness to foreign investment, financial opening up or deregulation, and currency
convertibility.
• Each state from this bloc was now linked directly to the West and not to each other in the region.

Q9. What were the consequences of shock therapy?

OR

‘The shock therapy administered in the 1990s did not lead the people into the promised utopia of mass
consumption.’ What did it lead to then? Explain.

A9.The Largest Garage Sale

• In Russia, the large state-controlled industrial complex almost collapsed, as about 90 per cent of its
industries were put up for sale to private individuals and companies.
• Since the restructuring was carried out through market forces and not by government-directed
industrial policies, it led to the virtual disappearance of entire industries. This was called ‘the largest
garage sale in history’, as valuable industries were undervalued and sold at throwaway prices.

The Declining Currency and Inflation

• The value of the ruble, the Russian currency, declined dramatically.

• The rate of inflation was so high that people lost all their savings.

Food Imports and GDP

• The collective farm system disintegrated leaving people without food security, and Russia started to
import food.
• The real GDP of Russia in 1999 was below what it was in 1989.

Emerging mafia

• A mafia emerged in most of these countries and started controlling many economic activities.

Rich-Poor Division

• Post-Soviet states, especially Russia, were divided between rich and poor regions.
• Unlike the earlier system, there was now great economic inequality between people.

Authoritarian Governments

• The constitutions of all these countries were drafted in a hurry and most, including Russia, had a
strong executive President with the widest possible powers that rendered elected parliaments
relatively weak.
• In Central Asia, the Presidents had great powers, and several of them became very authoritarian.
• For example, the presidents of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan appointed themselves to power first
for ten years and then extended it for another ten years. They allowed no dissent or Opposition.

No Judicial Culture

• A judicial culture and independence of the judiciary was yet to be established in most of these
countries.

Q10. How did Russia and other post soviet countries revive?

A10.
 • Most of these economies, especially Russia, started reviving in 2000, ten years after their
independence.
• The reason for the revival for most of their economies was the export of natural resources like oil,
natural gas and minerals.
• Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are major oil and gas producers.
• Other countries have gained because of the oil pipelines that cross their territories for which they
get rent.

Q11. ‘Most of the former Soviet Republics are prone to conflicts, and many have had civil wars and
insurgencies.’ Explain.

A11. Russia

• In Russia, two republics, Chechnya and Dagestan, have had violent secessionist movements.
• Moscow’s method of dealing with the Chechen rebels and indiscriminate military bombings have led
to many human rights violations but failed to deter the aspirations for independence.

Central Asia

• In Central Asia, Tajikistan witnessed a civil war that went on for ten years till 2001. The region as a
whole has many sectarian conflicts.
• In Azerbaijan’s province of Nagorno-Karabakh, some local Armenians want to secede and join
Armenia.
• In Georgia, the demand for independence has come from two provinces, resulting in a civil war.
• There are movements against the existing regimes in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.
• Countries and provinces are fighting over river waters. All this has led to instability, making life
difficult for the ordinary citizens.
• Central Asia has also become a zone of competition between outside powers and oil companies.

Intentions of USA

• After 11 September 2001, the US wanted military bases in the region and paid the governments of
all Central Asian states to hire bases and to allow airplanes to fly over their territory during the
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Chinese Interests

• China has interests here because of the oil resources, and the Chinese have begun to settle around the
borders and conduct trade.

Czechoslovakia

• In eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia split peacefully into two, with the Czechs and the Slovaks forming
independent countries.

Yugoslavia

• After 1991, Yugoslavia broke apart with several provinces like Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina declaring independence.
 • Ethnic Serbs opposed this, and a massacre of non-Serb Bosnians followed. The NATO intervention
and the bombing of Yugoslavia followed the inter-ethnic civil war.

Q12. Write a note on India Russia relations.

OR

‘India has maintained good relations with all the post- communist countries. But the strongest relations
are still those between Russia and India.’ Elaborate.

A12.Introduction

• India’s relations with Russia are an important aspect of India’s foreign policy. Indo-Russian relations
are embedded in a history of trust and common interests and are matched by popular perceptions.

The Bollywood Connection

• Indian heroes from Raj Kapoor to Amitabh Bachchan are household in Russia and many post- Soviet
countries.
• One can hear Hindi film songs all over the region, and India is part of the popular memory.

Shared Vision of Multipolar World

• Russia and India share a vision of a multipolar world order.

• What they mean by a multipolar world order is the co-existence of several powers in the
international system, collective security in which an attack on any country is regarded as a threat to all
countries and requires a collective response, greater regionalism, negotiated settlements of
international conflicts, an independent foreign policy for all countries, and decision making through
bodies like the UN that should be strengthened, democratised, and empowered.

Agreements and Diplomatic Support

• More than 80 bilateral agreements have been signed between India and Russia as part of the Indo-
Russian Strategic Agreement of 2001.
• India stands to benefit from its relationship with Russia on issues like Kashmir, energy supplies,
sharing information on international terrorism, access to Central Asia, and balancing its relations
with China.

Arms and Energy Imports

• Russia stands to benefit from this relationship because India is the second largest arms market for
Russia.
• The Indian military gets most of its hardware from Russia. Since India is an oil- importing nation.
• Russia is important to India and has repeatedly come to the assistance of India during its oil crises.
• India’s nuclear energy plans and assisted India’s space industry by giving, for example, the cryogenic
rocket when India needed it. Russia and India have collaborated on various scientific projects.

Q13. Write a note on the first Gulf War.

A13.
 • In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, rapidly occupying and subsequently annexing it.
• After a series of diplomatic attempts failed at convincing Iraq to quit its aggression, the United
Nations mandated the liberation of Kuwait by force.
• The US President George H.W. Bush hailed the emergence of a ‘new world order’.
• A massive coalition force of 660,000 troops from 34 countries fought against Iraq and defeated it in
what came to be known as the First Gulf War.
• However, the UN operation, which was called ‘Operation Desert Storm’, was overwhelmingly
American. An American general, Norman Schwarzkopf, led the UN coalition and nearly 75 per cent
of the coalition forces were from the US.
• Although the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, had promised “the mother of all battles”, the Iraqi
forces were quickly defeated and forced to withdraw from Kuwait.
• The First Gulf War revealed the vast technological gap that had opened up between the US military
capability and that of other states.
• The highly publicised use of so- called ‘smart bombs’ by the US led some observers to call this a
‘computer war’.
• Widespread television coverage also made it a ‘video game war’, with viewers around the world
watching the destruction of Iraqi forces live on TV in the comfort of their living rooms.
• According to many reports, the US received more money from countries like Germany, Japan and
Saudi Arabia than it had spent on the war.

Q14. Write a note on Clinton Years.

A14.

• Despite winning the First Gulf War, George H.W. Bush lost the US presidential elections of 1992
to William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton of the Democratic Party, who had campaigned on domestic
rather than foreign policy issues.
• Bill Clinton won again in 1996 and thus remained the president of the US for eight years. During
the Clinton years, it often seemed that the US had withdrawn into its internal affairs and was not fully
engaged in world politics.
• In foreign policy, the Clinton government tended to focus on ‘soft issues’ like democracy
promotion, climate change and world trade rather than on the ‘hard politics’ of military power
and security.

Q15. ‘Nevertheless, the US on occasion did show its readiness to use military power even during the Clinton
years.’ Explain.

A15.

• The most important episode occurred in 1999, in response to Yugoslavian actions against the
predominantly Albanian population in the province of Kosovo.
• The air forces of the NATO countries, led by the US, bombarded targets around Yugoslavia for well
over two months, forcing the downfall of the government of Slobodan Milosevic and the stationing
of a NATO force in Kosovo.
• Another significant US military action during the Clinton years was in response to the bombing of the
US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in 1998.
 • These bombings were attributed to Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organisation strongly influenced by extremist
Islamist ideas.
• Within a few days of this bombing, President Clinton ordered Operation Infinite Reach, a series of
cruise missile strikes on Al-Qaeda terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan.
• The US did not bother about the UN sanction or provisions of international law in this regard. It
was alleged that some of the targets were civilian facilities unconnected to terrorism. In retrospect, this
was merely the beginning.

Q15. Write a note on 9/11 attacks and response.

A15. The Attacks

• On 11 September 2001, nineteen hijackers hailing from a number of Arab countries took control of four
American commercial aircraft shortly after takeoff and flew them into important buildings in the US.
• One airliner each crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.
• A third aircraft crashed into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, where the US Defence
Department is headquartered.
• The fourth aircraft, presumably bound for the Capitol building of the US Congress, came down in a
field in Pennsylvania. The attacks have come to be known as “9/11”.
• The attacks killed nearly three thousand persons.

Comparison with Pearl Harbour Attack

• In terms of their shocking effect on Americans, they have been compared to the British burning of
Washington, DC in 1814 and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941.
• However, in terms of loss of life, 9/11 was the most severe attack on US soil since the founding of the
country in 1776.

The Response

• The US response to 9/11 was swift and ferocious. Clinton had been succeeded in the US presidency
by George W. Bush of the Republican Party, son of the earlier President George H. W. Bush.
• Unlike Clinton, Bush had a much harder view of US interests and of the means by which to advance
them.
• As a part of its ‘Global War on Terror’, the US launched ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ against all
those suspected to be behind this attack, mainly Al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
• The Taliban regime was easily overthrown, but remnants of the Taliban and Al- Qaeda have remained
potent, as is clear from the number of terrorist attacks launched by them against Western targets
since.
• The US forces made arrests all over the world, often without the knowledge of the government of the
persons being arrested, transported these persons across countries and detained them in secret
prisons.
• Some of them were brought to Guantanamo Bay, a US Naval base in Cuba, where the prisoners
did not enjoy the protection of international law or the law of their own country or that of the US.
Even the UN representatives were not allowed to meet these prisoners.

Q14. What do you mean by ‘Arab Spring’?

A14.
• The 21st century witnessed emergence of new developments for democracies and democratization in
West Asian countries, one such event is characterized as Arab Spring that began in 2009.
• Located in Tunisia, the Arab Spring took its roots where the struggle against corruption, unemployment
and poverty was started by the public which turned into a political movement because the people
considered the existing problems as outcome of autocratic dictatorship.
• The demand for democracy that started in Tunisia spread throughout the Muslim-dominated Arab
countries in West Asia. Hosni Mubarak, who had been in power in Egypt since 1979, also collapsed as a
result of the massive democratic protests.
• In addition, the influence of Arab Spring could also be seen in Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and Syria where
similar protests by the people led to democratic awakening throughout the region.

Q15. Write a note on the Iraq Invasion.

A15.
• On 19 March 2003, the US launched its invasion of Iraq under the codename ‘Operation Iraqi
Freedom’.
• More than forty other countries joined in the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’ after the UN refused
to give its mandate to the invasion.
• The purpose of the invasion was to prevent Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction
(WMD).
• Since no evidence of WMD has been unearthed in Iraq, it is speculated that the invasion was
motivated by other objectives, such as controlling Iraqi oilfields and installing a regime friendly to the
US.
• Although the government of Saddam Hussein fell swiftly, the US has not been able to ‘pacify’ Iraq.
Instead, a full-fledged insurgency against US occupation was ignited in Iraq.
• While the US has lost over 3,000 military personnel in the war, Iraqi casualties are very much
higher.
• It is conservatively estimated that 50,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US-led invasion.
• It is now widely recognised that the US invasion of Iraq was, in some crucial respects, both a
military and political failure.