Recent interpretations of the collapse of the USSR

Abstract

In 1917 a socialist party named the Bolsheviks were able to seize power in what had been the Russian empire but had fallen apart a few months earlier. In 1922, the same party announced the birth of a new state: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Going through industrialization, forced collectivization, mass starvation and a world war, it somehow came out as a very strong state. It was at a certain moment in history the only state that was able to challenge the USA, and it became alongside the USA one of the two superpowers in the world. The Soviet Union was a very powerful state, and its sudden collapse in 1991 came as a surprise to everyone. Many theories have been posed, many books and articles have been written about the cause or causes of this collapse. Most theories do not stand that strong by themselves, but can be joined with others to make a richer and deeper case. This thesis will review recent interpretations of the end of the Soviet Union. It will explore whether new interpretations have arisen after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007-2008, as well as after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.