Originally Posted by Adil Memon

Salaam,

Sorry for being late. I should have replied rather than advertising the class stuff.

Here is a brief answer:

The causes of USSR Disintegration:

Background:
Soviet Union and West after the World War II dropped into a cold war.
Each was craving to overpower the other.
The west followed capitalism while SU followed communism with some restrictions. Both were eager to replace the other's system with their own. Communism spread in the East while Capitalism in the West.

Causes of the disintegration in general and particular:
1) Stalin and Lenin's Political and Economic Policies
2) Lenin's dictatorial rule (it suppressed people)
3) The other rulers after them nearly followed the same path.

4) Mikhail Gorbachev: (the last one) this guy allegedly hit the last nail.

By now the people of USSR were suppressed. Mikhail Gorbachev was a very good reformist. He introduced several reforms. Although they were intended to be positive but unfortunately proved to be the cause of the disintegration.

He introduced two reforms named "perestroika" and "glasnost". These reforms were intended to give people some freedom, permission to have a limited ownership to a business, promote foreign trade and unban international orgranisations in the country, hold elections apart from the traditional pattern and introduced the concept of representatives, in general, liberalize the people and the economy of the country. The economic situation of the people deteriorated after these measures. People elected their own representatives rather than Gorbachev and his allies. This is when states declared their independence and USSR was broken down.

I personally don't hold Gorbachev responsible for the disintegration. He was a very wise man and an excellent reformist. But unfortunately the disintegration was inevitable. It went through the evolution period... it had to happen!

It is all my opinion... People can disagree!

I welcome any further questions!

Regards,
Adil Memon