Rossian Mismanagement Essay, Research Paper

During the years between 1946 and 1991, the United States of America (USA) and a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) waged an ideological ?Cold War? over the spread of governmental and economic influences on the world. In 1991, the USSR split apart, leaving as its major successor the nation of Russia, a vast country spanning the entirety of the eastern hemisphere. Once an attempted Communism, Russia has since traded its corrupted communist regime for Democracy and Capitalism. This change in political and economic philosophies came with the breakup of the USSR, and happened in a period of time far too short to make it a successful and smooth transition. That mistake in management was just one catalyst in the breakdown of Russia?s once World-Power stature. The government was composed of corrupt, quickly changing leaders that had little or no ability to change or interest in changing the dire situation of the country. In addition to that, the social situation of the country was messed up from the days of the USSR and Communism.

History:

Russia ended its Imperial Era with the reign of the last Czar, Nicholas II. During the Russian Revolutions of 1917, Nicholas II was forced to step down; the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, took power. The entire royal family was executed by revolutionaries during this time. Russia withdrew from World War I by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but civil war ensued and lasted until the Soviet regime emerged victorious in 1920. In 1917 Russia was proclaimed the Russian SFSR and in 1922 it became part of the USSR. Under Communist Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the end of repressive political controls permitted nationalist movements to arise in the constituent republics of the USSR. In 1990 Boris Yeltsin and other nationalists and reformers were elected to the Russian parliament; Yeltsin was subsequently chosen Russian President. Under Yeltsin, Russia declared its sovereignty (but not its independence) and began to challenge the central government’s authority. In 1991 Yeltsin was reelected in the first popular election for President in the history of the Russian Republic. He and the leaders of eight other republics reached a power-sharing agreement with Gorbachev, but its imminent signing provoked a coup attempt (Aug. 1991) by Soviet hard-liners. In the aftermath, the USSR disintegrated.

With Ukraine and Belarus, Russia established the Commonwealth Of Independent States. When Gorbachev resigned (Dec. 1991), Yeltsin had already taken control of most of the central government, and Russia assumed the USSR’s UN seat. Yeltsin also moved rapidly to end or reduce state control of the economy, but control of parliament by former Communists led to conflicts and power struggles. In Sept. 1993 Yeltsin suspended the parliament and called for new elections. Parliament retaliated by naming VP Rutskoi acting President, and attempted an armed uprising, which was crushed by the army. Rutskoi and others were jailed, and the parliament was dissolved.

In Dec. 1993 voters approved a new constitution that strengthened Presidential power, but they also supported many of Yeltsin’s opponents in the legislative elections. In the 1995 elections the Communists won the largest share of the vote (22%) and more than a third of the seats in the State Duma. In 1996 Yeltsin defeated the Communist candidate and was reelected in a runoff election. Russia and Belarus signed a treaty (1996) establishing the Community of Sovereign Republics and calling for the economic integration of the nations.

The Russian Federation has had to confront movements for autonomy or independence in several ethnically based regions and republics, including Tatarstan and Chechnya, a republic in the N Caucasus that has been the scene of bitter fighting between Russian and local forces on and off since 1994. As many as 30,000 casualties have been reported there. A peace agreement signed with Chechen rebels in 1996 had little effect and bloody fighting recurred later that year. There also have been violent conflicts between ethnic groups, particularly in the Caucasus.

Lately, Russia has continued to lose economic, social, and political footing, and is no longer the powerful nation the world saw during the Cold War. It has taken harsh blows to its stature in the years since the disintegration of its USSR power base. Recent events, like the Asian financial crisis of 1998 have all but destroyed the value of their currency and economy. The problems arising since 1991 ? although seemingly under control in 1997 ? was never fixed by the switch in political and economic systems or the actions of leaders.

Discussion:

Russia has never been on very good terms as far as their government and economy go. The Russian Revolution was started to depose the Czars who had lost favor with the people. It resulted in the rise of Communism in Russia and the formation of the great USSR. Unfortunately, under this system of communism the populous was getting cheated by corrupt leaders, in a manner not even close to the intended system of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It created terrible conditions for the majority of the population, almost all citizens becoming impoverished and destitute. In 1991, the people finally did away with the flawed communist system, breaking up the USSR and forming their own countries. Russia was the largest of these countries and is currently the largest in the world. It changed to a Democratic government and an economy of capitalism overnight, upending the system of complete ?communist? government control in place previously. Since the reform, Russia?s national stature has declined as a result of economic trouble, bad politics, and social flaws.

Russia?s reform has failed partially of its many economic flaws and its unmanaged transition to capitalism. Its economy was set up for a big fall when the closed market of the communist regime was suddenly flung open. Russian producers had become complacent in the absence of true competition, outputting progressively lower quality goods for fixed prices and a fixed market. The goods made by these companies had nowhere near the quality of foreign goods suddenly tossed into the market in 1991. It was because of this flaw that foreign investors had ceased to invest in Russian producers, removing any chance of a cane for the crippled economy to lean upon while it mended itself. These factors resulted in a plummet of the value of the Russian monetary unit, the rouble. Russians could no longer compete in world markets, gain foreign investments, or convert their money into foreign currencies or goods because of their rouble?s lowered value.

Political problems have become another major reason for the failure of Russia?s reform. The first popular election President of the Russian Republic was Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, but he was quickly denounced by the parliament he sought to abolish. They put into place his VP, a man named Rutskoi. Yeltsin, as the leader of Russia ? by election of the people ? used his power over the military to put down their attempted coup and jailed them all. From the almost-feudal battles for power ? rivaling the disputes of Rome over who would become the new Emperor ? Yeltsin emerged, holding the torch of reform high in an attempt to dig Russia out of the hole it had excavated for itself. The period preceding his control was one of unstable leadership, with new leaders coming to power so quickly that none could get anything done. This inactivity was further compounded by the corruption of those leaders, influencing all the things they accomplished, and making those actions often harmful to the nation. Yeltsin promised of stability in this aspect, but he had his own major shortcomings. One of his first acts was to increase his own power and lessen that of the existing Parliament. He had feuded with Viktor Gerashchenko, the Head of the Russian Central Bank, and did not remove him until after the value of the rouble had plummeted from 400 to $1 in 1992 to 3,926 to $1 in October of 1994. He then proceeded to attempt a hostile put-down of Chechen uprisings in the Chechnya ?province? of Russia. This act was completely out of favor with the public and other democrats in the government. Under his reign as president, Russia?s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deteriorated, crime soared, paralleled by unemployment rates, living standards fell, and all sorts of other terrible events befell Russia. Leadership like this continued right up to his resignation at the beginning of this year (2000), leaving Russia in a turmoiled and disarrayed state which it has yet to recover from.

One other major reason Russia has failed in its reform is its social structure. Since the days of its communist regime, Russia?s social structure has been rotting away. Its production which could have been used to aid the pursuits of happiness and wealth of its people was instead used to maintain its immense military. Since 1994, resources have been poured into a fruitless war with a rebelling state called Chechnya. Government programs which are sorely needed are being ignored in order to feed this military machine, and the populous is suffering as a result. Another fault in the Russian society was its lack of infrastructure. When the communist government collapsed, there were few entrepenures, for the majority of the people of Russia either worked in the factories or were put to labor by the government elsewhere. In addition to this, people attempting to set up companies that competed with the government-approved ones were persecuted as traitorous or in direct disobedience of government laws, and were incarcerated. People were used to being poor and not being able to do anything about it, so when they were suddenly told to strive for a goal of personal riches, they didn?t know what to do! They had already lost the natural avarice that drives US capitalism, and couldn?t easily find it again.

Russia?s reform efforts have failed because of poor economics, mismanagement, and flawed social concern/structure. Russia has not succeeded in making its dreams work. Its leaders have not taken the necessary steps to accomplish this goal, perhaps naively believing that the systems will make themselves work. To really accomplish the goals of true democracy and capitalism, Russia should have slowly transitioned as China is doing today. Since it is too late for this, Russia must now let go of all the old ways of doing things. It must learn that ruling by force will hardly ever succeed, and that people in the act of transitioning to a new way of life must be ?coddled? for a while. If it realizes this, then it will establish the programs needed to kick-start its economy, bring its citizens to a level of prosperity they can all appreciate, and get itself back on track. Now is a good time to take actions like resetting the value of the rouble since Russia stands to lose very little from an act like this. The government should pour resources into the upgrading of Russian factories and other production and processing facilities, in an attempt to rejoin the global market as an exporter. Doing these things will attract investors, gaining the country the necessary funds it needs to continue all these programs. Above all else, Russia needs to do something, while being sure not to jump into everything as it has in the past. It must learn to think things through and plan ahead more carefully. If these things can be done ? hopefully by the new President Putin ? then Mother Russia will rise again as a strong country, and its reformation will be a success.

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