Russia Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington were both well known political scientists that had two very different views about the future of the nations of the globe. Fukuyama, in his essay The End of History and Man, argued that with economic growth countries would begin to focus on free market policies and democracy. This move to free markets and democracy would inevitable cause the nations to become so similar, his convergence theory. Samuel Huntington argued, in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, that no matter how similar countries became economically and politically cultural differences would cause civilizations to clash. Now that it has been some years after the publication of these texts we can analyze the dynamic and in this essay we will be discussing Russia since the 1980’s. Russia is a large country that stretches from East Europe to Northern Asia with a population over one million. Russia’s most current President, Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s former control of the Soviet Union is usually the only details many Americans know about Russia. Many do not know that after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia became a democracy with a President and Prime Minister, however as be will see things in Russian politics has been changing again. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev “was chosen as the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union” and gained control of the Soviet Union (O’Neil, 271).
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Since he was a part of the new generation of leaders in the Soviet Union, he was a very dedicated reformer and this allowed for vast changes in the Soviet Union. This can be seen when “Gorbachev initiated the twin policies of glasnost(openness) and perestroika (restructuring), with the intentions of liberalizing and reforming communism” (O’Neil, 271). Gorbachev hoped that it would create “the kind of tolerant Western-style political culture”, however the free speech was used by the media to express frustrations that were oppressed for about seventy years (Hauss, 232). Perestroika was the policy where Gorbachev planned to “decentralized economic controls and encouraged enterprises to become self-financing” (“Perestroika”). Most of the changes were not fulfilled due to Communist Officials not wanting to lose their power of some economic aspects in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev also saw important reforms made to the Soviet Constitution in 1988. One of the changes, created a “stronger presidency, a position Gorbachev assumed” immediately after (Hauss, 232). The conference also resulted in the removal of Article 6, which had “defined the party as the ‘leading and guiding force of Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system, of all state organizations and political organizations’” (Hauss, 232). This redefined the political system of the Soviet Union drastically. Another drastic change was the introduction of a parliament, “the Congress of People’s Deputies, whose members were chosen through partially free election” (Hauss, 232). The reforms did not do exactly what Gorbachev intended, liberalizing communism, but rather polarize the country officials and the people of the Soviet Union. The people were given the means to have some influence over politics, but those in the Communist Party had many power of influences and were reluctant to give up their power. In August of 1991, the military and security service leaders with the support of Boris Yeltsin the President of the Russian Federation attempted a coup against Gorbachev. Gorbachev signed the Union Treaty with the presidents of “ten of the fifteen republics” in the Soviet Union that would “give them sovereignty over most domestic policy issues” (Hauss, 234). In September of 1991, the Baltic Republics were granted independence and soon following that “the remaining Soviet republics declared themselves sovereign” (Hauss, 213). With all the republics out of the control of the Soviet Union Gorbachev was forced to resign the presidency of a superpower that was no longer present. Inevitably, Gorbachev’s plans for reforming the Soviet Union to become more liberalized and move toward an economy based on free markets was the cause of the Soviet Union collapse. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, “post-communist countries faded, and continued to face, the challenge of building new political, economic, and social institutions to strike a new balance between freedom and
Since he was a part of the new generation of leaders in the Soviet Union, he was a very dedicated reformer and this allowed for vast changes in the Soviet Union. This can be seen when “Gorbachev initiated the twin policies of glasnost(openness) and perestroika (restructuring), with the intentions of liberalizing and reforming communism” (O’Neil, 271). Gorbachev hoped that it would create “the kind of tolerant Western-style political culture”, however the free speech was used by the media to express frustrations that were oppressed for about seventy years (Hauss, 232). Perestroika was the policy where Gorbachev planned to “decentralized economic controls and encouraged enterprises to become self-financing” (“Perestroika”). Most of the changes were not fulfilled due to Communist Officials not wanting to lose their power of some economic aspects in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev also saw important reforms made to the Soviet Constitution in 1988. One of the changes, created a “stronger presidency, a position Gorbachev assumed” immediately after (Hauss, 232). The conference also resulted in the removal of Article 6, which had “defined the party as the ‘leading and guiding force of Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system, of all state organizations and political organizations’” (Hauss, 232). This redefined the political system of the Soviet Union drastically. Another drastic change was the introduction of a parliament, “the Congress of People’s Deputies, whose members were chosen through partially free election” (Hauss, 232). The reforms did not do exactly what Gorbachev intended, liberalizing communism, but rather polarize the country officials and the people of the Soviet Union. The people were given the means to have some influence over politics, but those in the Communist Party had many power of influences and were reluctant to give up their power. In August of 1991, the military and security service leaders with the support of Boris Yeltsin the President of the Russian Federation attempted a coup against Gorbachev. Gorbachev signed the Union Treaty with the presidents of “ten of the fifteen republics” in the Soviet Union that would “give them sovereignty over most domestic policy issues” (Hauss, 234). In September of 1991, the Baltic Republics were granted independence and soon following that “the remaining Soviet republics declared themselves sovereign” (Hauss, 213). With all the republics out of the control of the Soviet Union Gorbachev was forced to resign the presidency of a superpower that was no longer present. Inevitably, Gorbachev’s plans for reforming the Soviet Union to become more liberalized and move toward an economy based on free markets was the cause of the Soviet Union collapse. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, “post-communist countries faded, and continued to face, the challenge of building new political, economic, and social institutions to strike a new balance between freedom and