Under communism, only the tiniest fraction of people expressed open dissent against the system. The system tried to draw in as many people as possible as accomplices. One of the most effective means was the threat that a failure to actively denounce opponents of the ideology would mean classificat...

At the height of the Cold War, a new cartoon emerged. Little blue people called Smurfs sang and skipped into the hearts of the American populace. The good, clean antics of the Smurfs were the model of American values, or were they? One should look closely at the Smurfs, their values, their cultures....

A country's foreign policy is only partly the result of decisions made by its government: it is mainly imposed by circumstances. Introduction Australia, during the last fifty years, has been a country unsure of its place in the world. She has been bouncing from ally to ally, beg...

The Rise of Communism in Russia Unless we accept the claim that Lenin's coup that gave birth to an entirely new state, and indeed to a new era in the history of mankind, we must recognize in today's Soviet Union the old empire of the Russians -- the only empire that survived into the mid 1980s (Lut...

It is hard to imagine that the powerful individual, Stalin, was once a peasant himself who was always under strict rule of the Tsarist regime. Stalin, as a young man who hated the political system he was under, was introduced to Marxism, a political philosophy which he became very interested in and ...

The causes and reasons for the decline and ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union are many and of a vastly varying nature. Yet, despite the various schools of thought on this issue, these causes can generally be placed into two differing scopes, those being the domestic and international arenas. M...

The Soviet totalitarian regime held the many nations of the USSR together for almost three quarters of a century; the disintegration of this political system brought with it economic and political instability as well as civil wars in the separated states. Why did the collapse of the communist regim...

History of China China has a history that spans some 3,500 years. It is perhaps one of the oldest most "great-aged" human civilizations ever recorded. 3,500 years of history is quite vast and many historians divide Chinese periods of political transformation and civil unrest's into 3 categories...

The fall of the Communist regime and adoption of Democracy in the Soviet Union was more than just a political affair. The resolute bond between economics and politics, which was the central characteristic of the state socialist system, created a unique situation for the successor states of the Sov...

In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed as a nation state. Although, in retrospect, this seemed the likely outcome after years of economic stagnation, political corruption, and most importantly, the collapse of all pro-Soviet communist regimes in Eastern Europe by 1989, no one expected it (Pa...

In his introduction to The Lexus and the Olive Tree, published in 1999, Thomas Freidman states that "[t]he world is 10 years old. It was born when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The Cold War system was replaced by a new, very greased, interconnected system called globalization." As a...

POLITICAL PARTIES OF KAZAKHSTAN Evolution of political parties of Kazakhstan has its roots at the beginning of the 20th century. At that period Kazakhstan was a part of Russian Empire. The increased Russian influence and colonization policy in Kazakhstan conduced to the creation of the first pol...

ANARCHISM: THE ALTERNATIVE TO GOVERNMENT After the Middle Ages, Europe entered a stage of monarchy. The birth of the modern European nations occurred under the control of kings, queens, and noblemen. Spain, France and England (most noticeably in Western Europe) and their counterparts, Polan...

Communism * Red Star * Communism is an ideal society that is unrealistic for humans to maintain. In this system major resources and means of production are owned by the community rather than by individuals. The society is without money, without ...

Karl Marx is the most controversial economist in history. His writings are studied and debated. He is frequently linked with communism and that association has biased many people against him. Marx's link to communism were formed because many of the socialist dictators such as Lenin studied...

Karl Marx is the most controversial economist in history. His writings are studied and debated. He is frequently linked with communism and that association has biased many people against him. Marx's link to communism were formed because many of the socialist dictators such as Lenin studied Marx...

In the years following the end of the Cold War, many historians and social scientists have written accounts of what were some of the causes and effects of this period when the threat of war was almost always present. One such person was Melvyn Leffler and his work, The Specter of Communism, whic...

Communism-The Ideal Society? Society is flawed. There are critical imbalances in it that are causing much of humanity to suffer. I suppose that this would be the driving force behind humanity’s relentless search to plan and create a perfect society. An essential part of having an unflawe...

The Communists were able to come to power principally because of the policies and actions used by the Kuomintang of which the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) took advantage. However in addition to this, there were also significant factors such as the conditions during the beginning of the twentieth c...

Many today believe that China is on its way to becoming one of the world's top superpowers. Increased diplomatic talks with the United States and its recent admission into the World Trade Organization only emphasize its growing political and economic importance. According to an article in TIME ...

Major Sources of Discord between the Bolsheviks and European States: 1917 to 1921 There were several major sources that created discord between the Bolsheviks and western states in Europe from 1917 to 1921. Conflicting ideologies that each attacked the very fabric of the other's respecti...

Major Sources of Discord between the Bolsheviks and European States: 1917 to 1921 There were several major sources that created discord between the Bolsheviks and western states in Europe from 1917 to 1921. Conflicting ideologies that each attacked the very fabric of the other's respectiv...

cold war Major Sources of Discord between the Bolsheviks and European States: 1917 to 1921 There were several major sources that created discord between the Bolsheviks and western states in Europe from 1917 to 1921. Conflicting ideologies that each attacked the very fabric of the other's ...

Unless we accept the claim that Lenin's coup that gave birth to an entirely new state, and indeed to a new era in the history of mankind, we must recognize in today's Soviet Union the old empire of the Russians -- the only empire that survived into the mid 1980s (Luttwak, 1). In their...

The Cold War was an extremely long war that last from 1945 until 1990. It did not clearly start until 1945, but strained relations remained between the United States and the Soviet Union since 1917. The ending of WWII and the struggle between Communism and Capitalism, led to this unique war. This...