Social And Economic Causes Of The Cold War

Introduction The Cold War, which had been the defining conflict of 20th century history, was popularly known as the war of ideology between American democracy and Stalinist communism. American’s fear of subversive attack by communists and the USSR’s resentment on US interventionist policy around the world had mainly fuelled the continuous arms race and proxy wars in Asia as well as Eastern Europe. In Soviet Russia, the cold war was defined by constant intervention in Eastern Europe bordering the Soviet and their involvement in Afghanistan. While the United States claim an all-out war on communism by intervening in major conflicts and civil wars across South America and Asia through its containment policy (Chomsky p. 59, 2011). The end of the

While the sole cause of Soviet Russia’s demise remained unclear, there were multiple events in the Cold War which would conjointly pushed the dismantling of the Stalinist regime. In the wake of the 30 years arms race against the US and constant political instability within the domestic front and the surrounding Eastern Europe, Soviet Russia was faced with economic stagnation and social depravity. By 1980’s Soviet Russia had spent almost one quarter of its GDP to compete with the United States in a seemingly never ending arms race (Reynolds pg. 540, 2000). The oil crisis in 1980’s also pushed Soviet’s economy downwards after eight years of leading oil production around the world (Aron, 2006). Aside from sluggish economic growth, the Soviet’s centralized economy was also unable to cope with the demands of innovation and competition needed in production. Analysts described it as, “This over centralized system could not handle challenges demanding decentralized initiative such as craftsmanship, agriculture and information technology” (Aslund, 2011). Consequently, mounting economic problem alongside rampant corruption within every levels of bureaucratic institution made living condition in majority of Russia a living hell. Poor health care, mounting alcoholism and environmental problem caused by massive

Gorbachev’s early policies reflected his goal to improve the current system and not change it completely (Reynolds pg. 543, 2000). He focused on administrative reforms, fighting the growing problem of alcoholism and improving computer technologies. To quote, Gorbachev specify, “Not the market, not the anarchic forces of competition, but above all the plan must determine the basic features of development of the economy” (Reynolds pg. 543, 2000). He began with liberalizing trade by importing grains and food supply to accommodate the shortages that’s affecting the country. Further reforms was made to the Soviet’s economy by permitting individual enterprise, giving more powers and control to factories and allowing corporations to operate (Brown, 2011). Gorbachev’s role in liberalizing trade and the Soviet’s economy played a pivotal role in the breakdown of the USSR. With the democratization of trade and the introduction of a competitive election amongst communist party leaders, Gorbachev sought to liberalize Soviet’s economy. It was this effort that brought forth the economic collapse of Soviet