Lili Frangenberg

What political and economic factors of the Soviet Union during the 20th century impacted its eventual decline in 1991?

Started June 14, 2024

Abstract or project description

In order to understand modern day Russia it is important to understand what led to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Using primary and secondary sources mainly the writings of political theorists, scientists, and economists, I will look into the different economic and political factors that led to the demise of the Soviet Union. I hypothezie that the main reason for the crash of the Soviet Union is rooted in the frail economic structure that was prevalent during the 20th century. When I started to read about the Soviet Union and look into international relations, I realized that in order to understand how the Soviet Union formed relationships with other countries, one has to understand the internal political and economic structures of the Soviet Union. I also realized that understanding the strength of the Soviet political party and it’s leaders is deeply connected to economics. Additionally I saw that in the sector of economics there were many factors such as agriculture, oil production, and industry that went into Soviet Union economics, so it is also important to understand how specific economic points influenced the Soviet Union’s crash. The concepts of perestroika and glasnost were influential in leading to the end of the Soviet Union, as both of these were political strategies that were implemented in order to grow politics. However, these were seen as superficial and led to an unhappy society amongst Soviet people. Gorbachev also pitched for economic policies within the Soviet Union to be spread to other European countries in order to create a Common Europe Home. However, this ultimately led to unhappiness and the questioning of the Soviet Union. Hence through understanding these many specific factors one could better understand why and what led to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.