Write four reflection response in Political science at least 250~300 words.

Write two reflection response in Political science at least 250~300 words.

Then, before midnight, May 7, respond to the original threads of at least four different student, one from each of the four folders. How might their argument be strengthened?

Q :Which was more responsible for the end of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan or Mikhail Gorbachev?

Classmate's answer A : Ronald Reagan

The textbook defines the Cold War as “the global, putatively bloodless (hence cold, not hot) conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union that resulted in massive arms buildups, international conflicts, and proxy wars” (Nau Kindle Locations 3980-3981). Chapter 4 of the text offers an analysis into the factors that caused the beginning and the end of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, entered office in the year 1981. In my opinion, Ronald Reagan is more responsible than Mikhail Gorbachev for the end of the Cold War because of his ability to not back down and to take advantage of the Soviet Union at a weak time, leading them to defeat.

After taking office, Reagan took steps towards eliminating nuclear weapons such as initiating new programs and a defensive missile system based in space identified as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), “the space-based antimissile systems that formed the core of Reagan’s program to enhance U.S. missile defenses” (Nau Kindle Locations 4410-4411), was a program launched by Reagan to that not only enhanced U.S. missile defenses but also worked to prohibit missile attacks from other countries.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) were talks held by the United States and the Soviet Union that led to reducing offensive nuclear weapons, not just limiting them. The SDI and Soviet ABM programs, which were geared towards defensive systems, led to crucial uncertainty. Whichever side gained effective defense systems first would have had the ability to strike the other side. In this case, their strong defense systems would protect them from the offensive weapons on the other side.

Ronald Reagan now had the new idea to shift the strength. His plan was to increase the defensive systems and decrease the offensive nuclear weapons. He then shared the technology of the SDI system with the Soviet Union, with the idea of altering deterrence from mutual assured destruction (MAD), which favored the dominance of offensive weapons over defensive strategies, to mutual assured protection (MAP), which was “a strategy proposed by Reagan to build up defensive systems and reduce offensive weapons” (Nau Kindle Locations 4412-4413). This was a very smart tactic by Reagan and meant that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union would cancel out, because of their equal ability to protect themselves against offensive missiles.

The U.S. was growing stronger under the presidency of Ronald Reagan while the Soviet Union was becoming weaker. In Berlin 1987, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech in front of the Berlin Wall. He stood for the voice of the United States during this speech, stating his desire for peace and the reduction of arms on both sides. He also sent a message to Gorbachev in this speech, asking him that if he seeks peace and prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, to open the gate and tear down the wall (Nau Kindle Locations 4636-4637).

In conclusion, I believe that Ronald Reagan took the necessary steps to end the Cold War. In my opinion, in the end Gorbachev was forced to accept the new ways of thinking provided by the West. The ideas presented by Reagan persevered over the Communist set of the ideas. The Soviet Union and its allies succumbed to the ideas upheld by Ronald Reagan and the United States. Reagan’s resistance to Communist ideology from the moment he entered office and his perseverance to stick to his plan is responsible for the end of the Cold War.

My reply to a friend discussion :

Classmate's answer B : Ronald Reagan

The devastating period of the cold war that lead to incredible numbers of casualties eventually came to an understanding end. It was not easy at all to come to an understanding and our world leaders at the time, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev were not easily negotiable. Since Gorbachev took power of the soviets in 1985 while they were declining in power, he knew that he can't keep budding heads with Reagan. Gorbachev and Reagan both knew that the best option for both sides is to end the war and not get into another arms race. In regards to who should be held responsible for ending the cold war is Ronald Reagan because he masked the United States with a strong military face that stood exclusively as a symbol aimed at the Soviet Union.

How the United states was presenting itself to the Soviets when Gorbachev took office was a military hegemon prepared to move forward. I believe this type of perspective that Reagan gave Gorbachev of the United States most definitely lead Gorbachev's into coming up with his “New Thinking”. Given the situation that the Soviets were in after Chernobyl and proving how horribly they handled a nuclear disaster in their country, a depreciating economy, coupled with horrible connections with the west, came the “New Thinking” by Gorbachev. Given Gorbachev is a realist, generally this new thinking idea was a matter of policy in order to bring peace with the U.S and as stated in the book “It was not a debate won by new thinkers that decided Soviet policy but material circumstances that neither old nor new thinkers could ignore” (Nau 172). So it was material facts like the ones I stated earlier of how the country was moving in a negative direction that evoked a solution of peace. Although it may seem like it was the Soviets backing down which brought an end to the cold war, I believe none of that would've happened if Ronald Reagan had not presented the U.S. in the way he did.

Ronald Reagan hated communism and was going to do whatever it takes to eliminate it but he also hated war. As Reagan made it his mission to end communism in Russia he decided to run fear through the soviets veins by announcing his new program “Strategic Defense initiative (SDI)”. What SDI did was it build space-based missile systems that are guided by satellites that-in-essence will protect the United States from any missiles fired from the Soviets. Reagan was financing his new programs through increasing the spending of U.S. military defense expenditure. The U.S. was becoming innovative and had the economy to do so while the Soviets were like 20 years outdated and knew they could not keep up with the U.S. The U.S. was dumping billions and billions of dollars in military spending and innovations and the economy roared because of how unified it was, on the other hand the Soviet’s already destroyed Chernobyl, economy was collapsing, food was scarce, and knew the only solution will be peace (Nau 169-174).

Reagan's intent for this power was not war but peace and at the height of the United States military power Reagan delivered a speech at the Berlin wall. Reagan famously said “I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent--and I pledge to you my country's efforts to help overcome these burdens” (Reagan). Given the Soviet’s were in the position of the U.S. then peace would of probably never happened but the humbleness and forwardness of the United States good intentions (especially Reagan), brought the war to an end.

My reply to a friend discussion :

Classmate's answer C : Mikhail Gorbachev

Both Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Regan are to be given credit for ending the cold war. However Mikhail Gorbachev is to be given more credit than Ronald Regan. There are two factors that led to the end of the cold war and consequently the collapse of the Soviet Union. The termination of communist ideology and economic failure. Even though USA and the USSR fought together during World War 2, their relationship after the war was not a friendly one. It was full of distrust and conflict. The cold war was mostly as a result of ideological and cultural differences. Mikhail Gorbachev was successful in ending the cold war because he was able to mitigate these differences between the two countries. (Gorbachev, 2011)

Firstly the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev had more influence in the Soviet Union than Regan meant that his opinion and policies were obeyed and executed easier and with much compliance. In 1998, Ronald Reagan while at a press conference in Moscow was asked about his role in quelling the cold war. He responded by saying “Mr. Gorbachev deserves most of the credit, as the leader of this country.” He went on further to explain that his role was majorly secondary as most of the ground work was done by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Mikhail Gorbachev introduced two principles that revolutionalized USSR. Perestroika “restructuring” was the first policy. Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to undertake a complete overhaul of the top members of the communist parties and groups. This was shift from the “Brezhnev Doctrine” that prohibited a communist state from denouncing communism. He was trying to remove the leaders that enforced this doctrine in order to start over with reformists who were liberal like himself. The second policy was Glasnost “Openness”, This was the second option after Perestroika failed. Glasnost was a policy that was aimed at encouraging the freedom of the press, and the freedom of expression of religious groups and citizens of the USSR and overall democracy This second policy is the policy that ended the cold war. Countries that wanted independence were able to speak out and anti-communists bodies acquired full force. (Gorbachev, Memoirs, 1995)

Gorbachev took another crucial step when in 1988 he declared that the ‘Brezhnev Doctrine’ that prohibited communists states from denouncing communism, was not going to be enforced. Before this, countries (Poland and Croatia) that had tried to demand independence were attacked by the Red army and their demands quashed. This declaration led to most of the Warsaw Pact countries removing their communist leaders which eventually led to the collapse of the Berlin wall.

Mikhail Gorbachev observed that the army was draining most of the countries resources yet it was not as reliable as should be. While the US was investing heavily in nuclear weaponry and preparing its army, Mikhail Gorbachev declared that the army had to be withdrawn especially in the Eastern Bloc so as to cut down the costs. The withdrawal of this army was the reason The Eastern Bloc countries were not attacked when they revolted against the USSR. (Graebner, 2008)

Finally Mikhail Gorbachev initiated talks with Ronald Regan. These talks were largely successful because, Gorbachev was willing to compromise a lot. He had observed that only 8% of the productions of USSR were in demand and this was the reason the economy was sluggish.

Due to his humanitarian values, Mikhail was able to oversee the end of the cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall and consequently the fall of the USSR without causing another world war as US had largely anticipated. He won the Nobel peace prize for his unbiased reforms and his impact in preventing world war 3. (Matlock, 2005)

My reply to a friend discussion :

Classmate's answer D : Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev was the eighth and also the final president of the Soviet Union that saw the end of the cold war. He started out in leadership as the general secretary of the Communist party in 1985 a position that made him see the numerous opportunities for reform in an economy which had remained stagnant for a very long time. In this paper, we are going to discuss Mikhail Gorbachev’s contributions to the end of the cold war that subsequently led to the fall of the Berlin wall and why he ought to take more credit for ending the cold war.

Reasons why it’s Mikhail Gorbachev and not Ronald Reagan show should take credit for ending the Cold War is mainly because he played a major role in ending the Communist Regime due to the strict reforms he imposed and implemented on the Soviet Union. As the president of the union, he had to make tough decisions such as in early 1989 when he denied the Polish Communist regime which was under Wojciech Jaruzelski, with military support (Sproule, 1990).

He introduced the policy of Glasnost meaning ‘openness’ in 1985 that saw the end of the long cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States. This policy pushed for improvement in the level of transparency between the member states in all their dealings. His main aim for introducing this policy was to encourage more openness in the actions of the government towards the people they were serving. This policy involved human rights improvement, raising the freedom of speech as well as an expression for the soviet people to a higher degree and putting in place measures to control existing severe censorship by the government. This policy was effective since it enabled the people to know about certain government malpractices. The policy gave the media more freedom to expose and give necessary critiques to the government that led to many citizens losing their faith in communism. The introduction of this policy empowered the people from Eastern bloc as well as the Baltic region to go against their respective governments and take control.

Mikhail Gorbachev also introduced the policy of perestroika which meant restructuring. This is a policy that aimed at reforming the systems of economy and politics for the soviet people. With the help of this policy, Mikhail Gorbachev was able to put in place major political reforms also introduce the philosophy of free markets in the economy. Some of the major political reforms were enabled by this policy included democratization which gave the soviet people the right and freedom to elect their candidates of choice.

Finally, one major aspect which gives Mikhail Gorbachev a lot of credit in ending the cold war is due to the series of meetings and appearances he made towards resolving the crisis between the governments and their citizens. For example his meetings with the communist leaders. He was successful in ending the cold war due to his consistency in solving emerging threats within the Soviet Union directly affecting the soviet people (Gorbachev, 2011).

My reply to a friend discussion :