The fall of the Soviet Union - The impact of the nationalist resurgence Flashcards
What does affirmative action mean?
Policies or programs that are intended to provide preferential treatment or support to historically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups
What was a way in which nationalism was controlled before 1985?
economic benefits
How were economic benefits were another way in which nationalism was controlled before 1985?
From 1953, economic planners targeted investment at the poorer regions of the Soviet Union
As these areas tended to be in the non-Russian republics, the investment led to an improvement in the standards of living for the majority of people in the 13 non-Russian republics.
Under Brezhnev, why was the “social contract” was as important to managing the republics as it was to managing Russia?.
In return for obedience, lives were transformed as areas of Central Asia were urbanised and modernised
Educational investment was also higher in the non-Russian republics - it became easier for non-Russians to get university places
Under Brezhnev, the system developed into…
what historian Terry Martin called an ”affirmative action empire.”
Under Brezhnev, the government encouraged forms of…
national self-expression
Under Brezhnev, the government encouraged forms of national self-expression - provide examples
Following 1964:
- Each of the republics had the right to introduce native education
- Increase in books and newspapers in non-Russian languages in the republics
- Brezhnev established new universities to educate non-Russian citizens of the Soviet Union
- Greater representation of Turkic people in the Central Committee and Politburo
- Folk art and music devoted to national culture were allowed in each of the republics
Democratisation led to problems that Gorbachev…
had not foreseen
How did Glasnost lead to the rise in nationalism?
- It exposed the ways in which Stalin’s government has persecuted non-Russian people
Allowed Soviet people to see the much better living standards of those living in the West with that compared to the Soviet Union
Glasnost undermined the perception that…
the Soviet Union had benefited people in the republics
Glasnost allowed nationalist groups to…
publish material that demanded greater autonomy
Brezhnev doctrine
The Brezhnev Doctrine was a policy established by Leonid Brezhnev stating that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene militarily in any Warsaw Pact country to preserve communism and prevent the rise of alternative political systems
An example of the Brezhnev Doctrine in action
The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, where Soviet forces were deployed to suppress political reforms and maintain communist control
Gorbachev replaced the Brezhnev Doctrine with…
the Sinatra Doctrine which allowed a wave of democratization to surge through the Soviet Union
Sinatra Doctrine
A retrospective policy introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev signalling a hands-off approach by the Soviet Union towards the internal affairs of Eastern European countries, allowing them to pursue their own paths of political and economic reforms
By authorizing Poland and Hungary to liberalise,
Gorbachev exhibited to East Germans that…
emancipation would be condoned
Peter Grieder develops that Gorbachev’s “prescient
warning” to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany that…
existence penalises those who come too
late led to dismissals of totalitarianism as it accepted that “life measured politics rather than politics measuring life.”
How did increased democratisation lead to an increase in nationalism?
Further aided nationalist by giving them a chance to fight and win elections
Elections led to the first major nationalist challenge to the Soviet Union since 1921
When did the newly elected parliament of Lithuania declared Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union?
In March 1990
How did Gorbachev react to the declaration by the newly elected Lithuanian parliament?
Gorbachev claimed that the declaration was illegal and so imposed economic sanctions
Sanctions were lifted in the Summer, there was no resolution to the issue
How did Yeltsin take the situation with Lithuania further?
Yeltsin took this further by insisting that in May 1990, that laws made by the Russian parliament were legally more superior to the Soviet laws
Yeltsin’s statement gave Russia a significant degree of independence from the Soviet Union
Evidence that nationalism was on the rise in Russia was the re-emergence of…
The old Russian flag and the double headed eagle, the symbol of the old Russian monarchy
Both of which had been banned by the Soviet Government
Use of these symbols had shown that Yeltsin indicated that nationalists in Russia wanted to break away from the Soviet Union and create Russian Independence
Evidence that nationalism was on the rise in Russia was the re-emergence of…
The old Russian flag and the double headed eagle, the symbol of the old Russian monarchy
Both of which had been banned by the Soviet Government
Use of these symbols had shown that Yeltsin indicated that nationalists in Russia wanted to break away from the Soviet Union and create Russian Independence
In 1988, nationalist protests broke out in…
Karabagh, a region of Azerbaijan
