Glasnost and Perestroika and Disintegration of USSR

When Mikhail S. Gorbachev stepped onto the world stage in March 1985 as the new leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), it was immediately clear that he was different from his predecessors. Hailing from a younger generation gave Gorbachev a new outlook on the challenges that faced his country.
To face several challenges Gorbachev launched Glasnost(Openness) and Perestroika(Restructring).
Glasnost (“openness”)was launched as A vital plank of his reform efforts. He believed that the opening up of the political system—essentially, democratizing it—was the only way to overcome inertia in the political and bureaucratic apparatus, which had a big interest in maintaining the status quo. In addition, he believed that the path to economic and social recovery required the inclusion of people in the political process.
Glasnost also allowed the media more freedom of expression, and editorials complaining of depressed conditions and of the government’s inability to correct them began to appear. By providing social freedom and reducing discontent that was brought about due to censorship and media control, Gorbachev’s idea was to increase the efficiency of the government and of the economy.
Gorbachev’s other primary objective was to create a more transparent government like never seen before, a government that was open to reform , to debate new ideas,. Freedom of speech was introduced to also decrease internal criticism that was unhealthy for the Economy.
The Glasnost implementation had huge risks, if public opinion was positive, then it would prove to be an effective policy, but if living conditions in the Soviet Union were to deteriorate during Glasnost then the population could take advantage of this new policy to show their discontent and oppose the Communist Party.
Perestroika, which means “restructuring” was introduced as a program or policy by MikhailGorbachev intended to reform the baseline of the Soviet economy in an attempt to revitalize it.
To restructure, Gorbachev decentralized the control over the economy, reducing the government’s role in the decision making process of the economy and adopting a more “laissezfaire” economic stance.
The Perestroika also intended to improve life and working conditions for employees in order to stimulate an increase in production levels. The overall idea of work in the Soviet Union was to be changed from corruption to honesty. Individual workers, as it was hoped,would be stimulated by the rewards of hard work and would therefore improve the quality oftheir efforts and benefits Soviet economy in the end.

After Gorbachev began the process of glasnost and perestroika events got out of his control. Governments of Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and East Germany fell due to the people of those countries rising against their own governments after they had become more aware of what had happened in the past.
These population uprisings also happened in the Soviet Union itself resulting in its own breakup. The new countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan were all formed. What remained was a new country of Russia. This is now known as the breakup of the USSR.
The communist governments of the east European countries disappeared and areas inside the USSR split from the USSR forming their own countries. Many different ethnic groups (based on culture, history and language) inside the USSR formed their own countries. As well, East Germans stormed the Berlin Wall after realizing that the Soviet Union would no longer protect the wall. Eventually the wall was destroyed and the Cold War was over.

By: Ankush Sharma