How did India play a crucial role in the Non-aligned Movement during the Cold War period? Explain.

OR

Why did the Soviet Union, the second most powerful country in the world, disintegrate? Explain any six reasons.

During the Cold War, the Non-Aligned Movement was formulated for preventing the nations from joining the blocs, i.e. USSR and US. These NAM nations did not shoe support to either of the blocs and focused more upon its own development.

Indian foreign policy was proposed under Jawahar Lal Nehru:

1. He proposed the idea of Non Aligned movement, to protect the newly liberated colonial nations’ sovereignty.

2. He proposed for peace, by taking initiatives of maintaining equality.

3. Nehru’s efforts towards NAM were shaped by his country’s experience as a newly independent nation free from colonialism.

4. India under Nehru and NAM proposed the principle of nonalignment and a country’s freedom to choose its fate when the two major blocs were manipulating countries to join their respective groups.

OR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a loose confederation of 15 republics with Russia as the leader. The Russian Revolution of 1917 ended the Russian empire. This was followed by the Russian Civil War which finally resulted in the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Reasons for disintegration:

1. Crisis in the Socialist bloc: People in many east European countries started to a protest against their own governments and USSR. Without the right intervention from USSR at the right time, communist governments in the second world collapsed one after the other.

2. The fall of the Berlin Wall: Germany was divided after the second world war – among the socialist USSR and the capitalist western regimes.

3. Reforms: economic and political reforms were made by Gorbachev, which deviated from communist ideology and was inclined towards the market economy. So the communist leaders started to oppose the reforms.

4. Coup 1991: A coup was carried out against Gorbachev, due to poor administration the coup failed.

5. Differences or opposition to the coup

6. The power shift from Soviet centre to republics: Republics like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus emerged powerfully. They declared that the soviet union was disintegrated.