Assess the Main Factors Leading to the Break-up of the Soviet Union

It has been observed in the past that, at the time of Mikhail Gorbachëv‟s ascension to power following the death of his predecessor Konstantin Chernenko in 1985, few people believed that the Soviet Union was heading for collapse; merely reform (Bartlett, R. (2005:278)). Thus the question begs; what changed over the next five years to bring one of the world‟s two superpowers to the point of utter disintegration and demise? Doubtless there are many factors involved. For instance, the Soviet Union‟s ongoing competition with the west, most notably the United States, placed a massive financial burden on an economy which was quickly becoming outdated. Indeed, the impact of Cold War relations upon the economy extended further than simply the financial burden which the maintenance of massive conventional and nuclear forces entailed. Particularly since the election to the US Presidency of Ronald Reagan, the USSR had found itself increasingly isolated, its economy being deprived of rapidly advancing western technology which it struggled to replicate either domestically or within its „Outer Empire‟ of satellite states. Moving away from Cold War concerns, there is the impact of Gorbachëv‟s reforms and the question of whether or not any reform could have been performed within the Soviet Union, as it was at the time, without risking its destruction. Certainly there were significant flaws within the Soviet model, and Gorbachëv realised this, hence his reforming zeal, but there remains some doubt whether these flaws could possibly be addressed at all, or whether the system had become so „self-sustaining‟ and indeed „self-dependent‟, that any attempt to change it would be ultimately fatal. Many of the issues relating to the wisdom of Gorbachëv‟s reforms concern the state of the Soviet Union‟s political and economic systems and how they related to each other. Furthermore, the creation, or permitting to exist, of a meaningful political opposition to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) represents possibly one of the most dangerous developments which were seen under Gorbachëv. When taken in combination, these factors, and some more beside, would bring an end to the USSR, the task here is to assess the impact of each and determine their respective relevance to the break-up of the Soviet Union.