Identify the incorrect reason for the disintegration of USSR:

A. The Soviet economy used much of its resources in maintaining a nuclear and military arsenal.
B. The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense.
C. Gorbachev reforms were a success and led to change of power in country.
D. The Communist Party that had ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable to the people.

Choose the correct answer from the given options:

C

The correct answer is Option 3 - C

A. The Soviet economy used much of its resources in maintaining a nuclear and military arsenal.
B. The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense.
C. Gorbachev reforms were a success and led to a change of power in country.
D. The Communist Party that had ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable to the people.

Gorbachev carried out his reforms and loosened the system, he set in motion forces and expectations that could not be fulfilled which finally led to disintegration of USSR. Thus, Option C is incorrect.

The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense as well. The Communist Party that had ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable to the people. Ordinary people were alienated by slow and stifling administration, rampant corruption, the inability of the system to correct mistakes it had made, the unwillingness to allow more openness in government, and the centralisation of authority in a vast land. Worse still, the party bureaucrats gained more privileges than ordinary citizens. People did not identify with the system and with the rulers, and the government increasingly lost popular backing. Gorbachev’s reforms promised to deal with these problems. Gorbachev promised to reform the economy, catch up with the West, and loosen the administrative system.

The Soviet economy used much of its resources in maintaining a nuclear and military arsenal and the development of its satellite states in Eastern Europe and within the Soviet system (the five Central Asian Republics in particular). This led to a huge economic burden that the system could not cope with. At the same time, ordinary citizens became more knowledgeable about the economic advance of the West. They could see the disparities between their system and the systems of the West. After years of being told that the Soviet system was better than Western capitalism, the reality of its backwardness came as a political and psychological shock.