B-1 Ch-2 The End of Bipolarity

CBSE Test Paper 01

Class 12 - Political Science (B-1 Ch-2 The End of Bipolarity)

Name the prime minister of the USSR who invited India and Pakistan in 1966 in Tashkent.
1. Lenin
2. Kosizin
3. Mikhail Gorbachev
4. Breznov
Mention the name of the Eastern alliance led by the Soviet Union.
Highlight features of the old system of social welfare that got destroyed due to shock therapy.
Which two republics of the USSR have had violent secessionist movements at the time of its disintegration?
Discuss the economic relationship between India and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era.
Highlights the main political developments in Czechoslovakia of Eastern Europe.
In which region was the nationalist dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union strongest and why?
List any two differences between the socialism and communism.
Describe any four consequences of the disintegration of Soviet Union.
Carefully look at and study the political map of the Commonwealth Independent States, 1997. Answer all the questions given below it:
1. Which country is having the largest area in the Map? When was the Soviet Union disintegrated?
2. Write the names of any four Central Asian independent states shown in the map.
3. Write the names of those two states or countries which have encircled Arab Sea in the map?
4. Write the names of the capitals of the following countries:
  1. Russia
  2. Kazakstan
  3. Uzbekistan
  4. Ukraine
The value of the Ruble declined dramatically. The rate of inflation was so high that people lost all their savings. The collective farm system disintegrated leaving people without food security, and the government
started to import food. The old trading structure broke down with no alternative in its place. The old system of social welfare was systematically destroyed. The withdrawal of government subsidies pushed large sections of the people into poverty.
1. What is meant by subsidy?
2. How did the disintegration of the collective farm system lead to the loss of food security?
3. This passage is associated to which country? Why did the government start importing food?
Describe the factors that make most of the former Soviet Republics prone to conflicts and threats.

CBSE Test Paper 01
Class 12 - Political Science (B-1 Ch-2 The End of Bipolarity) Answer

1. Kosizin
  Explanation: He was the prime minister of the USSR during that period.
The Warsaw Pact was the name of the Eastern alliance led by the Soviet Union. It was the group of supporters of Communism and socialism.
Features of the old system of social welfare that got destroyed due to shock therapy were as:
1. The old system of social welfare was systematically destroyed.
2. Withdrawal of government subsidies led to poverty
3. Privatisation led to new disparities.
The Chechnya Republic and The Dagestan Republic were the two republics of the United States of Soviet Russia which have violent secessionist movements at the time of its disintegration.
The economic relationship between India and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era were:
1. Technical assistance for steel plants and machinery plants was given by USSR.
2. Indian currency (Rupee) was accepted for bilateral trade.
In Czechoslovakia as in other post-communist states in Central and Eastern Europe, the end of communist rule in late 1989 was followed by a popularisation of politics. The liberal political and social reforms brought by Alexander Dubeck in Czechoslovakia were understood by USSR as a violation of rules of Union. Russians therefore, sent troops in August 1968, to smoother these progressive tendencies. Dubeck had to bow out and was replaced by another hardliner communist, Gustav Husak. Velvet Revolution was conducted by Charter 77 in 1977 and the famous playwright, Vaclav Havel became the President of the country in December 1989. Another important change came about with the division of the country and the emergence of two states. As the breakup of the federation at the end of 1992 illustrates, Czechoslovakia’s newly re-created democratic political system proved unable to survive the continued conflict between Czechs and Slovaks that dominated public life during the first two years of the post-communist era.
Ironically, during the Cold War, many thought that nationalist unrest would be strongest in the Central Asian republics. Nationalist dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union was strongest in the more ‘Europeanised’ and prosperous part- in Russia and the Baltic areas as well as Ukraine and Georgia. The reason was that the ordinary people here felt alienated from the Central Asians and from each and concluded also that they were paying too high an economic price to keep the more backward areas within the Soviet Union.

Differences between socialist and communist parties are following:

Socialist Party	Communist Party
Socialism believes in gradual change. It is an economic ideology while	Communism believes in radical and fundamental change. It is an economic and political ideology.
Socialism aims at improvement and reform in society. In this society, everything is owned by the government while	The Communist party aims at the restructuring of the entire society. In this society everything is owned by the working class.

The consequences of the disintegration of Soviet Union were : (any four)
1. The disintegration of the Soviet Union meant the end of the Cold War because the Cold War was the culmination of the rivalries between the USA and the USSR. Thus, Cold War confrontations were put to an end.
2. The dissolution of the Soviet Union led to a dramatic change and upheaval in the power relations which had implications for world politics. The disintegration left open the world space to be dominated by the sole superpower called the USA or to have the dominance of several powers. The world witnessed a transition from the bio-polar world to a Uni-polar world.
3. The Bretton Woods institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund became active players in the wake of developmental needs of the second world countries as they were borrowing money from the World Bank and IMF. It helped to raise the importance of these institutions as the newly formed countries were depended on these institutions for their development.
4. The world saw the emergence of many new countries with their own independent aspirations. It also witnessed secessionist movements in many countries. Chechnya and Dagestan are two examples of these movements.
5. The Baltic states namely Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia joined the European Union and subsequently became members of the NATO. This opened up the way of progression of Capitalism around the globe.
6. Undoubtedly the significant consequence of the withering away of the USSR was the inauguration of the period of US hegemony in which capitalism was pronounced as the winner because socialism had been dead.
1. 1. Russia.
  2. The Soviet Union disintegrated on 25th December 1991.
2. 1. Kazakstan
  2. Uzbekistan
  3. Turkmenistan
  4. Tazikistan.
3. Arab Sea is encircled by
  1. Kazakstan and
  2. Uzbekistan.
4. Country Capital
  Russia Mosco
  Kazakstan Astana
  Uzbekistan Tashkent
  Ukraine Kiev
1. The subsidy is a sum of money granted by the state or a public body to help an industry or business keep the price of a commodity or service low so that affordability of the item could be maintained in the market.
2. The disintegration of collective farm system led to capitalism in agriculture which left people without food security because state-sponsored subsidies were abolished, food grains etc to poor were put to an end under the capitalist system. It resulted in a lack of food availability.
3. The given passage is associated with the United States of Soviet Russia. The government started importing food to meet the shortage of food in the country.
The present-day conflicts which the post-Soviet republics are confronted with can be traced to the old days when the USSR had existed. With the downfall of the USSR, Russia has experienced high levels of ethnic conflicts pertaining to exit claims by former satellite states that rose against the idea of federation. Exit claims antagonised the state leading to a clash between the interest of the centre and the constituent states resulting in massive human right violations in Chechnya and in other regions. The three factors that make most of the former Soviet republics prone to conflicts and threats are as follow :
1. Chechnya conflict: Chechnya is one of the twenty-one republics among the eighty-nine regions that make up the Russian Empire. Chechnya conflict which began in 1994 has led to the demand for independence. It has been the bone of contention between separatists and the Government of Russia for decades. Russia has been criticised for its actions which led to mass killing of the people in Chechnya. Chechnya witnessed a chain of conflicts with thousands of casualties.
2. Tajikistan conflict: Tajikistan also experienced a decade long Civil War fuelled primarily by a clash between ethnic groups. The civil war started in 1992. The main zone the conflict was the south zone but the impact of the conflict was throughout the country. It ended in 2001. The cause of the Civil War lies in the period after the end of the Cold War where legitimacy crisis erupted after presidential elections in Tajikistan. It took the form of a Civil War.
3. Georgia conflict: Like the other post-Soviet states, Georgia also fell prey to the internal conflicts and instability which had accumulated since the days of the Soviet Union. Declaring independence, Georgia witnessed two gruesome conflicts in the country. The conflict centred on South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia. These conflicts proved to be painful for the country as it created divided societies following divergent interests. These three examples of conflicts proved to be disastrous for humankind as it accounted for a large number of lives.

Country	Capital
Russia	Mosco
Kazakstan	Astana
Uzbekistan	Tashkent
Ukraine	Kiev

B-1 Ch-2 The End of Bipolarity - Test Papers