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Historical Geography of Post-Soviet Era

Historical Geography of Post-Soviet Era. Choices in late 1980s. Reform, then democracy Shock the economy, then (maybe) open up Models of Chile, China. Democracy, then reform Open up society to reform it U.S. thought “totalitarian” system not reformable.

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Historical Geography of Post-Soviet Era

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  1. Historical Geographyof Post-Soviet Era

  2. Choices in late 1980s • Reform, then democracy • Shock the economy, • then (maybe) open up • Models of Chile, China Democracy, then reform • Open up society to reform it • U.S. thought “totalitarian” system not reformable

  3. Mikhail Gorbachev, 1985-91 • Democracy, then reform • Socialism with a human face • Openness • Restructuring

  4. Glasnost (Openness) • End to secrecy • After Chernobyl 1986 • Freedom to assemble, speak, etc. • Open discussion of problems

  5. Glasnost: Unanticipated effects • Unleashed nationalisms • Decentralization spreads conflict to local scale • No one calls shots; little democratic experience

  6. Perestroika (Restructuring) Political: Reduce Party control Economic: Privatize non-industrial economy

  7. Place name changes:De-Sovietization Leningrad Gorky Frunze St. Petersburg Nizhny Novgorod Bishkek

  8. Place name changes:Indigenization Byelorussia Yakutia Kishinev Belarus Sakha Chisinau ,

  9. Place name changes:Transliteration Gomel Tadzhikistan Nakhichevan Kirghizstan Homyel Tajikistan Naxçivan Kyrgyzstan

  10. Perestroika: Unanticipated effects • Reluctance to give up security • Mistrust competition, inequality • Economic output lower, food shortages/lines

  11. Gorbachev Era • Reversed “Brezhnev Doctrine” in E. Europe • Some allies more hard-line than USSR • Hard-liners tested him • Lithuania, Georgia, Azerbaijan massacres

  12. Afghanistan war, 1979-89 • Underestimated Muslim mujahadin rebels • Bogged down like Vietnam • Stinger missiles shot down helicopters

  13. Afghanistan war, 1979-89 • Withdrew 1989 • Pro-Soviet regime ousted 1992 • Bitter Afghantsy (veterans)

  14. Poland & Hungary • Western-oriented • Soured on socialism after repression • Hungary 1956 • Poland 1970 & 1981 • Regimes liberalized

  15. Better-off first to revolt Poland, Hungary in Warsaw Pact Baltic States in USSR Slovenia, Croatia in Yugoslavia Czech Rep. in Czechoslovakia

  16. Better-off first to revolt Socialist state prevented full development Resented supporting poorer areas “Pull” of European Union integration

  17. Western TV signals • Finnish TV in Estonia • W. German TV in GDR, Czech., Poland • Austrian TV in Hungary

  18. TV stationsas battlegrounds Ostankino tower clashes, Moscow, 1991, 1993 Romanian Revolution 1989 Lithuania massacre 1990 U.S. bombs Serbia 1999

  19. Poland 1989 • Solidarity strikes, peasant party force election • 1st non-Communist prime minister appointed; Lech Walesa later pres.

  20. Hungary 1989 • Party drops power monopoly • Declares republic, opens discussion of 1956 • Opens western border

  21. East Germany(GDR) 1989 • “Tourists” cross Hungarian border to Austria (brain drain) • Huge youth rallies spread from Leipzig • Fear of Stasi secret police lost • Gorbachev prevents crackdown

  22. Berlin Wall 1989 • Minister on TV ends travel restrictions • Berlin Wall falls overnight after 28 years • GDR dissolves 1990, becomes FRG poor region

  23. Post-Soviet paths, 1989 • “Reformed” Communist parties • Pro-West consumer capitalism • “Third Way”: democratic socialism / Greens • Right-wing ethnic nationalism

  24. Czechoslovakia 1989 • Student protests repressed • “Velvet Revolution” returns leaders from 1968 Prague Spring • Dissident writer Vaclav Havel president

  25. Czechoslovakiaends 1993 • Czech Rep. More developed than Slovakia • Czechs want quick NATO, EU entry • “Velvet Divorce” of leaders, not people

  26. Bulgaria 1989 • Russians popular in Slav Orthodox country • Communists win 1990 election; lose 1991 • Economic reforms difficult

  27. Romanian Revolution 1989 • Dictator Ceaucescu wooed West • Autocratic “personality cult,” secret police • Military revolt executed him, poverty remained

  28. Baltics1990 • Lithuania declares full independence • Soviet crackdown • Latvia, Estonia declare sovereignty (own laws supreme)

  29. Boris Yeltsin,1991-99 • Party official from Urals; resigned 1990 • Modernizer; Russian Federation Pres. 1991 • Russia needs own identity apart from USSR, declares republic laws supreme

  30. August 1991 Coup • Day before Union of Sovereign States declared • Gorbachev under arrest by KGB; VP in power • Moscow KGB declined to arrest Yeltsin (on tank) • Gorbachev rescued, coup collapses

  31. Coup Aftermath • Yeltsin undercut Gorbachev as main leader • Baltics independence recognized in Sept. • Other republics start to declare as “sovereign”

  32. December 1991 Endgame • Russia, Ukraine, Belarus independent • Declare “Commonwealth of Independent States” • 8 independent republics join CIS (Georgia later) • Gorbachev resigns, Soviet flag lowered

  33. Russia successor state to USSR

  34. Aftermath • Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakstan disarm nukes • Economic, military ties disrupted between republics • Rise of “mafia” economy, crime

  35. Close command industries • Reduce or end subsidies • Privatize industrial economy • High unemployment, • inflation, inequality “Shock therapy”

  36. Losing regions • Older military-industrial • Agricultural, Resources • Ethnic minority Spatial economy • Winning regions • Hub cities • Gateway

  37. Post-Communists, 1990s • Elected in Poland, Hungary, Lithuania! • Slowing down shock therapy? • Seen as capitalist/modern, not nationalist, social conservative

  38. Opposition to Yeltsin • Communists & nationalists • lament loss of Empire • Slavophile populists mistrust • West; often anti-Semitic • Yeltsin tanks fire on • Parliament, 1993 • Candidates: Rutskoi, Lebed, Zhirinovsky, Zyuganov

  39. Yeltsin’s Demise • Financial crash • Health problems • Drunk as a skunk • Corruption extended to family • Ethnic minority autonomy (soft on Chechens?)

  40. Vladimir Putin, 2000-? • Underestimated as Yeltsin puppet • Ex-KGB in Germany; knows West well • Yet also placates “Eurasians,” Soviet memories

  41. Chechnya • Won vs. Russia in 1990, 1994-96 • Declared independence • Key Caspian oil pipeline

  42. Putin’s ruthless brutality won admirers Russians flatten Grozny, capital of Chechnya, 2000

  43. Authoritarianism returning • Media controls • Centralization in Moscow • Ethnic autonomy lessened • Economic heavy hand

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