The recent revolution in the Soviet Union
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The recent revolution in the Soviet Union was largely bloodless. Once again, Russian society is being restructured, along with the dissolution of the union of the various Russian republics. The seeds of this new revolution can be found in the society of the Soviet Union over its history, a society that was tightly controlled by a growing and complex bureaucracy which intruded into every facet of life. The new revolution has attacked this bureaucratic structure, showing an awareness that much of the stagnation in soviet society derived from this central core and from the way in which it moved outward to encompass virtually everything in Soviet society. The issue to be faced is what sort of economic and social structure would be best for Russia. Attempts are under way to introduce and solidify democracy and capitalism, but for many in Russia the uncertainties of a capitalist system are simply too great. The latter would prefer some form of socialism. Still other observers see a need for a transition period with a socialist system to be replaced by a capitalist system when the people are more ready to cope with such a change and when the economy is strong enough to support it as well. The economic and social situation when Gorbachev assumed power was already in deterioration, and the economy in particular was falling further and further behind the West. In 1985 he inherited a country with a stagnating economy, an ambitious but self-defeating foreign policy, and a corr
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flation was 2,650 percent in 1992 and was reduced to 131 percent by 1995. in 1996, Monthly inflation was kept below 3 percent. Foreign trade suffered greatly with the severance of Russia from the other former Soviet republics but has largely recovered. The beginnings of a market infrastructure are in place. The size of defense spending has fallen from over 20 percent of GDP in the 1980s to around 5 percent today. The changes have been considerable, but the country has much more to do if it is to become a capitalist economy.
Little progress in terms of economic reforms had been accomplished by the end of the Gorbachev era, and the success or failure of any reform after that time would be linked to the level of popular support that could be garnered for that policy. There has been an increase in the number and frequency of public opinion surveys in Russia in recent years. In August 1992, respondents were asked if they thought the economic reforms should continue or be stopped, and 53 percent supported the reforms while only 20 percent wanted them stopped. Even those respondents unhappy with their own situation believed that further reforms would improve matters. The issue is more complex when specific reforms are examine
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Soviet Union, Russia Attempts, St Petersburg, OECD Russian, Boris Yeltsin, Hungary Russia, Official Russian, Union Observers, World September, market economy, soviet union, Quarterly Winter, soviet society, percent gdp, private ownership, collective farm markets, collective farm, foreign trade, farm markets, private plots, 20 percent, world september 1996,
Approximate Word count = 1762
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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