Explain the reasons for disintegration of the Soviet Union.

A loose confederation of 15 republics with Russia as the leader formed the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). With a strong control over global politics from 1922 to 199, USSR was a strong bloc. But it disintegrated into smaller units because of reasons like economic weakness, political un-accountability, rise of nationalism and political support for reforms that enabled the common people to compete with the western world. The disintegration led to the emergence of new countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Uzbekistan. The main factors behind the disintegration of USSR are as follows –

• Economic Weakness – The citizens of USSR were dissatisfied with the weak economy present during that time. The economic weakness was mostly due to spending on military, maintenance of satellite states in Eastern Europe along with the Central Asian Republics. There was also a huge shortage of consumer goods leading to general poverty.

• Political Un-accountability – The single party rule that existed in USSR for nearly 70 years had turned authoritarian. The system was widely corrupted and there was an inherent lack of transparency. Gorbachev decided to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union. This eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union as it began a slow process of democratization.

• Gorbachev’s reforms – The reforms brought about freedom which made the public demand for more and it was difficult to control.

• Rise of nationalism – The most important and immediate cause of the disintegration of the USSR was a rise of nationalism among countries like Russia, Baltic republics, Ukraine, Georgia etc.

The disintegration of USSR not only led total upheaval in the internal politics of the newly emerged countries but also led to several profound consequences on world politics.