Comparing and Contrasting the USA and the USSR - Coursework Example

Comparing and Contrasting the U.S.A. and the U. S. S. R. (Now Russia) Comparing and Contrasting the U.S.A. and the U. S. S. R.(Now Russia) Introduction Even before the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after the Russian Revolution, the United States government regarded the Czar-ran Russian state with great trepidation. This is because the populations of the two outsized nations had different cultural as well as ideological values. Even before the formation of the USSR, its people were more inclined towards collectivism than the Americans. After the Russian Revolution, the USSR would acquire a totalitarian government that was ruled by a succession of ruthless characters. While America leaned more towards recognizing individual freedoms and improving relations between the government and its people, the Soviet government developed aggressive policies which it would then try to force on its Eastern European neighbours. The Aspect of the Freedom of Expression After the Second World War, there were even more deep-seated differences between the USSR and the USA. These differences were ideological, political, and cultural in nature. They would soon give way to a vast chasm between the economic capabilities of the USSR and the USA. In terms of ideology, the USSR and America believed in different kinds of governing systems. The United States embraced a governing system which allowed for political officials to be elected in free and fair elections. American citizens had the right to create political parties or give their opinions on political issues without fearing for their personal safety. The Soviet Union, which was goverened by the Communist Party, did not allow dissension or the formation of other political parties (Yllmaz, 2008). The Soviet Union’s citizens could not openly express their political opinions- particularly if they went against the sentiments of the ruling communist party. In the Soviet Union, even elements of the press could not openly criticize the main ruling party or its policies. Different Financial Systems Another area in which the two nations differed was in their financial systems. The USA embraced capitalism while the Soviet Union embraced communist policies in the running of the national economy. Communism and capitalism are essentially different in their approach towards different aspects such as politics or even economics. For example, in regards to communism, it is the community and not its citizens who have ownership of any natural resources or even processing and manufacturing equipment. Capitalism is different as it entrusts the ownershoip of natural resources to private individuals. Communism only allows for organizational profits to be equally distributed among community members. Capitalism entrusts those profits to the entrepreneur or industrialist who invested substantial amounts of money as capital in the firm (Young & Kent, 2004). To maintain these dfferent operations, both systems have different governments to oversee them. Communism holds that the citizens are not above the society. In any circumstance, the good of the society has to be esteemed above the personal needs of the citizens. Capitalism is different because it esteems individual freedoms above all other collective forms of partnership. Essentially, capitalism has an ingrained economic system that is basically self-regulated while in communism, the financial system has to be supervised by the ruling government for it to be able to function as it was intended. Another economically-related factor that demonstrates the difference between communism and capitalism has to do with production processes. In regards to capitalism, private citizens are entrusted with making decisions about price structure and manufacturing limits. In communism, though, it is the government, or community which makes decisions about price structure. Capitalism is based on the efforst of individuals. In capitalist nations such as the United States, from a young age, citizens are taught that their personal effort is the only thing that has the power and capacity to change life and improve the economy. Communism is different because it extols collectivism. Communism encourages its citizens from a young age to believe in the power of equal sharing in all circumstances. This means that it is only through the sharing of jobs that communities can acquire benefits (Harasymiw, 2010). While communism has been responsible for the downfall of different national economies, it was first created in an effort to bring more stability to nations by brigding the gap between the rich and the poor. This is why, unlike capitalism, communisn does not support the acquisition of private property. Communism basically seeks to establish a class-less society in which there are no rich or poor citizens as all people are believed to be equal owners of the community resources. The American government has always sought to encourage the development of free trade in all nations that it seeks to influence (Suri, 2011). The communist system embraced by the Soviet Union sought the opposite by shielding itself as well as all the nations under its influence from global commercial activities. While successive ruling governments in the Soviet Union claimed that this was to protect the system of communism from contamination by Western values, the real reason for refusing to engage in international commerce was to revent Soviet citizens from being exposed to genuine viewpoints which would question the validity of the claims of the totalitarian regime, thus eroding their power. Ideological Differences and Similarities between the U. S. S. R. and the U. S. A. The main difference between the USA and the USSR had to do with the difference in accepted ideologies. America’s constitution was based on the writings of individuals such as Thomas Paine and emphasized on the importance of ensuring that personal freedoms were respected. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, was based on Karl Marx’s ideology about dialectic materialism. While America sought to increase its influence in other nations through advancement in technology as well as progressive ideological principles, the Soviet Union used ideological cant as well as brute force to add other nations to its already large size. While America sought to encourage its citizens to develop independent and progressive thoughts which would eventually help in further developing the national economy, the communist party in the Soviet Union was more interested in controlling the thoughts of its citizens by threatening them with severe punishment if they did not observe the party’s statutes. Similarities between USSR and the U.S.A. It is a fact that there were more differences than similarities between the communist government of the USSR and the USA. For example, both America and the USSR had multiethnic populations. The USSR was an amalgamation of numerous tiny Eastern European nations. These nations each had distinct cultures. The USA was also made up of different nationalities of people whose parents or grandparents had relocated to the nation for different reasons. In addition, in the cases of both the USSR and USA, both nations were expansionist powers that functioned as the main authorities or ‘watchdogs’ in their different continents. Another similarity has to do with the way in which both nations regarded themselves. America’s citizens believed –and still do believe- that there nation was appointed by God to present desperate people from other nations with a nation in which they could have an equal chance as all other people, to make a comfortable life for themselves (Kanet, 2006). The Soviet Union professed not to believe in any type of religion; however, it also held grandiose beliefs about its position in the world and the effects of its ‘positive’ influence in other nations. Both the USSR and the USA also participated in the arms race and acquired nuclear weapons almost at the same time. There are other troubling ways in which the USA is begining to resemble the former USSR-which disintegrated completely in the early 1990s. According to Andrew & Mitrokhin (2005) some of the problems that confronted the Soviet Union towards its end are now plaguing the United States. For example, the Soviet Union was plagued by wars that it did not successfully win. It invested a lot of its military resources in trying to crush the opposition in Afghansitan, for example. After almost a decade in the small and mountainous nation, the Soviet Union admitted defeat and withdrew its forces. America has similarly been engrossed in seemingly endless wars in nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq. This has drained its economy, as it did the Soviet Union, resulting in serious financial problems at home. America also faces a reduction in oil drilling operations. The Soviet Union faced a similar problem before its disintegration (Leffler, 2008). Moreover, America has tried to rectify this problem by seeking for additional offshore oil sources. America is also faced with huge military budgets that are draining the national treasury and causing other important sectors such as that of education not to have adequate financial resources. Along with a huge foreign debt, the American government has also been plagued with cases of corruption in its largest financial institutions. These are problems that the Soviet Union faced prior to its slow collapse. For the Soviet Union, its exaggerated view of itself actually further propelled it towards its doom. Such delusions can prevent citizens as well as government officials from having to partake in an honest discussion in order to solve the existing concerns. Conclusion The USSR and the USA functioned, for more than half a century as the world’s superpowers. Their differences and purposeful participation in trying to shape the political ideologies of other nations around the world would change the way in which nations operated. However, the constant competition between the two superpowers helped to generate the discovery of different technologies that improved life for the world’s citizens. The Soviet Union may not be in existence any longer; however, the legacies of its contention with the United States still benefit the human population. References Andrew, C., & Mitrokhin, V. (2005). The world was going our way: The KGB and the battle for the third world. New York: Basic Books. Harasymiw, B. (2010). Russia, the United States, and the New Cold War. Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 12(2), 1-31 Kanet, R. (2006). The Superpower Quest for Empire: The Cold War and Soviet Support for ‘Wars of National Liberation’. Cold War History, 6(3), 331–352. Leffler, M. (2008). For the soul of mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. New York: Hill and Wang. Suri, J. (2011). Conflict and Co-operation in the Cold War: New Directions in Contemporary Historical Research. Journal of Contemporary History, 46(1), 5–9. Yllmaz, M. E. (2008). The New World Order”: An Outline of the Post-Cold War Era. Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, 7(4),44-56. Young, J. W., & Kent, J. (2004). International relations since 1945. New York: Oxford. Read More