Examine the reasons responsible for the disintegration of USSR.

The affirmation on the disintegration of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) came as a surprise to the other republics, especially to the Central Asian ones. There are many reasons for the disintegration of USSR and they are:

• Internal weaknesses of Soviet political and economic institutions, which failed to meet the aspirations of the people, were responsible for the collapse of the system.

• Economic stagnation for many years led to severe consumer shortages and a large section of Soviet society began to doubt and question the system and to do so openly.

• The Soviet Union had become dormant in an administrative and political sense as well. The Communist Party that had ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable to the people.

• Once people started to enjoy freedom under Micheal Gorbachev’s reforms, they demanded more. The demand grew into a big force which turned complicated to control. The people wanted to catch up with the west quickly.

• The rise of nationalism among countries like Russia, Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Ukraine, Georgia etc is the most important and instantaneous cause of the disintegration of the USSR. The national feeling was strong among the more flourishing areas in USSR and not in Central Asian republics.