Title: Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics, 1991
Headings: Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics, 1991
Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics, 1991
Content: In the end, the Russian Federation became the successor state for the Soviet Union, which meant that it took responsibility for weapons control and disposal, for outstanding debt, but also for the Soviet seat on the UN Security Council. The collapse of the Soviet Union had vital implications for U.S. foreign policy. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States had created a sort of bipolar stability, as the two hegemonic powers balanced one another. The expectation was that the end of the East-West conflict would mean international stability, but this hope was not borne out, as civil wars and other conflicts in the developing world presented new challenges. In the spring of 1991, as the U.S.S.R. was splintering, the United States faced its first post-Cold War challenge in the form of the Gulf War; for the first time since World War II, the United States went to war with the full support of the Soviet leadership - a sign of a potential future of partnership in creating a more secure world order. Moreover, the disintegration of Yugoslavia took place when Cold War rivalries were replaced by ethnic disputes, and the conflict that followed eventually involved U.S. troops in a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the democratization of its Eastern European satellites, the end of the Cold War conflict between the communist East and capitalist West resulted in an increased uncertainty in many parts of the world.