Collaspe of the Soviet Union - Essay Example

How and why did the collapse of the Soviet Union change the meaning of the West? The collapse of the Soviet Union represented the largest coupe of the western hemisphere, specifically the United States which had engaged in a “cold war” with this nation for close to 50 years. In understanding how the collapse affected the west it is important to understand what the collapse entailed. Until 1991 there had been two major superpowers battling for supremacy, this occurred in many areas; space travel, economics and the aggregation of various cultures and countries.

This was accomplished through direct interference and outside pressure using various propaganda approaches as well as financial and physical methods. The West up to this point had been, at least in the West, the ideal of civilization, with a solid mixture of physical liberty and fiscal freedom and ability. With the vacuum that occurred as a result of the collapse of the U.S.S.R. There was now a direct competition between “western” influences to gather more abilities and support. The West had as a result gained the upper hand however, as a result of the militarization that occurred during the “cold war” the United States now has a large military force that is has no given objective and needed to be put to use.

As a result of the “cold war” defense spending in the United States had doubled in the 1980’s and the size and ability of the United States military had expanded to fill the roles needed as a front line and support in this “cold war.” One author states, “Under Reagan, American defense spending increased from $134 Billion dollars in 1980 to $235 Billion dollars in 1985, with an emphasis on strategic modernization.” (Stoner-Weiss, McFaul, 2009 p 18). The west as a result of the Cold War now had advanced their militarization to a point where they were unable to reduce that without substantial loss to their individual economies.

This could be seen as a problem with many who desired less war and more liberty. Unfortunately, in many cases the now super-sized military forces have been used for conflicts of a dubious nature with no clear end goal for these. Academically there is not much to be had regarding the de-sovietization of Russia. While there are some articles and books published the thrust is generally towards the future for this nation versus what caused the collapse. Monetarily the United States is following a similar path of self –destruction in that it has engaged in a war inside Afghanistan that cannot be won and will cause additional spending.

According to Reuveny and Prakish in The Afghanistan War and the Breakdown of the Soviet Union, “The Afghanistan war (for Soviet Russia) and the repeated failures on this war changed the Soviet leadership’s perception of the efficacy of using force to keep non-Soviet nationalities within the Union.” (Reuveny, Prakash, 1999 p 698). While the United States is not creating a larger nation we are attempting to initiate our ideas and societal approach in nations that have sullenly rejected outside influences for hundreds if not thousands of years.

To directly answer the question posed it could be said that the United States as the greatest power in the West has been changed, or the meaning of the West has been changed to something that may be seen in the future as negative based on the increased use of force by western powers to quell local rebellions and sovereign problems not directly related to the west. Reference page: Reuveny, Prakash, R, A. (1999). The Afghanistan war and the breakdown of the soviet union. Review of International Studies, (p 698), Retrieved from http://faculty.

washington.edu/aseem/afganwar.pdf Stoner-Weiss, McFaul, K, M. (2009). domestic and international influences on the collapse of the soviet union (1991) and Russia’s initial transition to democracy (1993) . CDDRL Working Papers, ( p 18), Retrieved from http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/22468/No_108_Stoner-Weiss_domestic_and_international_influences_on_collapse_of_USSR.pdf