END OF BIPOLARITY

ASSIGNMENT -1

1. State any two world events that signify the end of Bipolarity?
2. What do you mean by the ‘Shock Therapy’?
3. In 1991, under the leadership of Yeltsin, three major republics of USSR declared
independence from USSR.
a) Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia
b) Russia, Ukraine, Belarus
c) Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia
4. Which one of the following is not a Baltic Republic?
a) Estonia
b) Ukraine
c) Latvia
d) Lithuania
5. Correct and rewrite the statement.
Hungary had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense. It was John F
Kennedy, who promised to reform the media and administration in order to catch up
with the Soviets.
6. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) came into being after the Socialist
Revolution in Russia in
a) 1914
b) 1917
c) 1939
d) 1991
7. True/False
The shock therapy in the Soviet Union did not affect the economies of the
communist bloc countries.
8. In the ‘Tug of war’ Gorbachev lost support and divided public opinion of _______
9. What was the largest ‘garage sale’ in the history of Soviet Union?
10. A communist Party bureaucrat drives down from Moscow to a collective farm to
register a potato harvest.
“Comrade Farmer, how has the harvest been this year?” the official asks.
“Oh, by the grace of God, we had mountains of potatoes,” answers the farmer.
“But there is no god,” counters the official.
“Huh”, says the farmer, “And there are no mountains of potatoes either.”
a) What does “there is no god” means?
b) Identify the scenario at that time in the Soviet Union that brought in to the
situation referring in the conversation? 2
11. Mention any two features that distinguish the soviet economy from that of
a capitalist economy. 2
12. Give any four arguments to prove that the Soviet Union had become stagnant in an
administrative and political sense. 4
13. Study the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow:-
The Soviet system became very bureaucratic and authoritarian, making life very
difficult for its citizens. Lack of democracy and the absence of freedom of speech
stifled people who often expressed their dissent in jokes and cartoons. Most of the
institutions of the Soviet state needed reforms_____ the party refused to recognize
the urge of people in _____different republics that formed the Soviet Union.
a) How many different republics together constituted the USSR?
b) What type of party system was there in the Soviet Union? How far did it
follow the democratic norms?
c) Highlight any two main aspirations of the people of different republics of
the Soviet Union. 1+2+2=5
14. Discuss the consequences of the Shock Therapy on Russia. 6
15. Describe the role of Gorbachev to reform the Soviet System and the effects of these
reforms on USSR. 6