In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the general secretary. He understood that the country needed some serious changes. Gorbachev used his new policies, perestroika and glasnost. He loosened the social control and brought new ideas to use. The situation with the economy improved and people now had hope ( " H i s t o r y o f r u s s i a , " ) . In the beginning of 1990s, the Soviet Union began to fall apart. Its own republics began to claim independence. When Yeltsin was elected as a chairman of the Parliament he took lead in the independence movements. In 1991 Gorbachev resigned and Yeltsin won the presidential elections. All the previous republics became independent and USSR became the Russian Federation ( " H i s t o r y o f r u s s i a , " ) ! The Russian Government Today The Russian Federation is a democracy, although it is massively influenced by one man power- the Prime Minister
infrastructure, agriculture, Wasted resources human, natural, technology, financial 2.Gorbachev's reforms- changes made- Political prisoners were released Jews were allowed to emigrate freely Labour unions were given the right to bargain and strike Religions were allowed to worship freely Mass media was allowed to investigate and publish freely 3.Collapse of the Empire- Soviet empire and communism eventually destroyed, President George Bush passive, avoided any support of Yeltsin 4.Containment and the Reagan military build up · The fall of the Berlin Wall, re-independence of Eastern Europe and disintegration of the Soviet Union · · Rise of conservatism and fundamentalism suspicion that the government can't fix anything efficiently rise brought by fundamentalist Christians They favoured strict limits on government intervention in the economy AIDS 14 No drugs campaigns issues with abortion Life in the 80s
Cleptocracies? Afraid of countries becoming liberal. Ukraine 17th century, Chmelnickov giving swords. Natl movements coming out of closet. Liberal movements mucked up opportunity to govern country, EE (Muslim countries worked differently). Econ catastrophes, not able to bring out, more conservative people. Riots come out of econ catastrophe. Good-thinking people willing to compromise some freedom for stability, have trains run on time, less crime on streets, mafia. Not happening under Yeltsin. Runaway inflation. Edu for civil society takes generation. Baltics and Poland had liberal past to cling to, crawl back on. Remittances brought hard currency in, natl and household economies. Belarus - $ coming from Russia. Hungary big on farming. SU not doing anything about anti-Semitism from below. Bigger fish to fry. Relaxation of censors, also relaxation of anti-Semitic publications. 56, de-Stalin speech. No mention of Stalin's anti-J repression. Would be hard to expect people to feel
presented a natural course of events, and the Soviet Union ought to have been demolished long ago; and (2) the Soviet Union ought to have been preserved, which would have been indeed possible if the actions taken had displayed a greater degree of sensibility. Gorbachev and his opponents the derzhavniks agree that it would have been possible to sustain the Soviet Union. Both sides, however, keep accusing each other and President Yeltsin of destroying the state. The advocates of the modernisation theory, on the other hand, tend to blame the crash of the superpower on the crisis of communism and the Soviet system. The majority of the authors listed above proceed from the assumption that it was possible, and even more so, imperative to retain the Soviet Union seeing that the consequences of its disintegration extending into the present day are disastrous. They are trying
In connection with this the Estonian Supreme Council passed the proclamation for an independent Republic of Estonia, on the 20th of August de jure and de facto. Next day it became clear that the attempt to seize power in Moscow had failed. The favourable opportunity had come to gain international recognition to the restored Republic of Estonia. Among the first to grant it was the Russian Federation with its President Boris Yeltsin. The Republic of Estonia was admitted to the United Nations’ Organisation in September. The 101-member Riigikogu (Parliament) was elected in September 1992. Lennart Meri, a writer, historian, diplomat and a prominent figure in Estonian culture, was elected President. The year 2004 was politically significant, on March 29th Estonia joined NATO, and on May 1st it became a member of the European Union. Issuing from the fundamentally changed situation for further developments and
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