Collapse of Bipolarity

About this unit

This unit explains how the bipolar world of the Cold War came to an end. It looks at the Soviet system, the reforms of the late 1980s, the break-up of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991 and what followed in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia. It also covers how the former communist states moved towards democracy and a market economy, and how India built relations with these new states. The unit matters because the end of the Cold War reshaped almost every later topic in world politics.

Key ideas

• The Soviet system: one-party rule, a state-planned economy and the "Second World" of allied states.
• Reforms under Mikhail Gorbachev: perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness).
• Disintegration of the USSR in December 1991 into 15 independent states.
• Formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
• "Shock therapy": the rapid shift to capitalism and its effects.
• Conflicts in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia after communism.
• India's relations with Russia and the new Central Asian states.

How to prepare

Make a short timeline: Berlin Wall falls (1989), German unification (1990), end of the USSR (1991). Learn the meaning of key terms such as perestroika, glasnost, shock therapy and CIS. Expect questions that ask for the correct sequence of events, the meaning of a term, or the causes and consequences of the Soviet break-up.