Legacies Of Empire: World War II And The Cold War

Derrick Lieu

Kaare Strom

POLI 11D

23 November 2014

Legacies of Empire With the power and vast lands that both the UK and Russia (former USSR) possessed came the responsibility and challenge of maintaining economic, social, and political stability within its governments and institutions. In the last few decades, both states faced numerous difficulties that have caused their political potency and stability to decline greatly. As a consequence of World War II and the Cold War, both sovereign states gradually lost important lands and powers to other countries as a result of declining political status and power. The British Empire collapsed quickly after World War II due to many reasons while the collapse of the Russian empire came gradually between

After World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, although Britain remained a super power, it was financially ruined. It needed to rebuild its domestic institutions rather than focus on maintaining solidarity among its oversea colonies which had grown independent in the duration of war. The idea of nationalism also became popularized after World War II and more countries sought to become independent, sovereign states, separate from the British Empire. In the end, the vastness of the empire became a liability as the problems lay far within the center of the country, within its domestic institutions and Britain needed to recreate a sound foundation focusing on its own economic

As a result, the Soviet Union had accumulated a mass of almost useless oil and had to get rid of it somehow and reform their economy. This was left up to Gorbachev, the last Union leader, to resolve. Gorbachev was a charismatic leader who sought to reform socialism to make it appeal more to the masses. He started off his political career with the campaign of glasnost, or openness. This would allow more freedom of speech among the citizens and thus help the citizens trust the government once again. Similarly, Gorbachev pursued the much less-successful perestroika ideology, which meant reconstruction. Its plans were enormous and sweeping as it had a mission to reform the Soviet system in fundamental areas. There was a degree of independence given out to many owners of enterprises, and cooperatives and state-jointed ventures were legalized. The USSR withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, signed a disarmament treaty with the US, and withdrew from satellite states. However, although these plans of adopting some more democratic approaches to socialism, it failed miserably because perestroika was rife with contradictions. Although enterprises had more autonomy over themselves and the market, they could not change the inherent market prices themselves. The problem with the Soviet economy was not its workers or corruption or inefficiency, it was in the system itself. The structure of