Why+did+it+fail?+hojoon

**Primary Source**
When asked about the reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mr. Boris Yeltsin commented that it was "pre-determined." He cited that it was fated to collapse the moment USSR was created, because history showed that Empires never last forever. In short, the question was when it would collapse. Check it out: http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/Static?p_product=Yeltsin&f_location=yeltsin&p_theme=current&p_action=doc&p_nbid=W73T59NTMTI0Mzc3ODE2OS41MTQ4MjQ6MTozOmtpcw&f_docnum=115DF9E5495C2DE0&f_topic=2&f_prod=WAFP&f_type=&d_refprod=SPECIALREPORTS

Despite the collective efforts to rescue the Soviet Union, Perestroika is often pointed out as one of the determining reasons that led to the break-up of the 7-decade-old USSR. =NOTHING went according to the plan!!! =

**Social**
One of the hardest challenges Gorbachev faced while trying to rescue the nation was the public itself. In USSR, there were many (in fact millions) old Conservatives that disapproved of Gorbachev's ruling the nation. The conservative, purely original Communist ideologies they believed in meant the distrust of reforms to their Utopian society. They went against Gorbachev in almost every major decision, and it was their constant disruption that prevented the society from potentially marching towards progress. For example, Gorbachev was met with public criticisms for the introduction of foreign investors to USSR and in much more cases. A leader would not be able to exert major influence without public support and Gorbachev lacked this.

**Economic**
Earlier on, we mentioned about the investments by foreigners and privatization of companies, not to forget decentralization. First of all, __foreign investments__ failed in USSR because of the economic system it was running on. Because of a severe lack of competition and old rigid structure of the planned economy, the Soviet Union was not able to attract many investors. Even if they did, there could not be much progressed because of the existing system of economy. There were strict regulations that discouraged foreign investors too, like limiting the foreign share of Russian venture to 49%, the Russians taking the high positions of companies etc. This chased away investors and hindered companies from progressing because of too much governmental intervention.

__Decentralization__, too, was meant to drive the country's economy towards that of democratic nations. This reform certainly helped to get rid of governmental control over the economy, letting it run on its own. However, this resulted in the breakdown of the basic rules of economy: demand and supply instead. There was confusion in the market as to the production decisions. Therefore, instead of creating a free market, decentralization had destroyed what was left of the Soviet economy and created new problems over the pricing system.

**Communism**
Communism was never favored in most countries, especially the United States and other wealthy, democratic nations. Actually, they were afraid of the Red Scare too! The cartoon shows what the general attitude towards Communism was back then.

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Discussion question... (ABC-CLIO Discussion Questions)
Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. He was forced to resign as president of the Soviet Union in 1991 due in large part to the failure of his reforms. Given the perspective of hindsight, do you think the Nobel committee made a prudent choice?