Political Change essays

Political Change essays In the French and Russian Revolutions, could political change have occurred without bloodshed and the use of force? In the French and Russian Revolutions, there was a lot of force and bloodshed used. Can political change occur without the use of bloodshed and force? I think it can happen, although there are very few people that have done it. There is still many years to come yet so people still have their chance to change from wars and violence to means of peace to obtain political change. If people would compromise instead of using violence we wouldnt have to fight to death and we would actually have more people alive today. Mikhail Gorbachev was one person who sought to reform society by introducing perestroika (restructuring of the economy in the former USSR) and glasnost (openness in political and cultural affairs in former Soviet Union). These reforms met stiff opposition within the Communist party, in cracys control over m any aspects of Soviet domestic life. Gorbachev in 1989 and 1990 shifted some power from the party to popularly elected legislatures and greatly strengthened the powers of the presidency. Augmentation of his constitutional prerogatives did not, however, enhance Gorbachevs ability to control developments in Eastern Europe, where Soviet influence declined republics, where rising nationalism posed a serious challenge to the viability of the Soviet state. In international affairs, Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, normalized relations with China, and, after a series of meetings with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, negotiated a treaty with the U.S. to eliminate medium, and certain shorter-range missiles from the two nations nuclear arsenals. In December 1989, Gorbachev conferred with U.S. President George Bush on nuclear and chemical weapons reductions. He also met at the Vatican with John Paul 2, the first Soviet leader to have an audience wit ...