Mikhail Gorbachev's legacy: What are glasnost and perestroika?

Who was Mikhail Gorbachev? Gorbachev served as the last president of the Soviet Union. He was considered a major catalyst for the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931, to peasants in southwestern Russia. He attended law school at Moscow State University, where he became a member of the Communist Party. He rose up through the party ranks and in the Politburo, which was the party’s policy-making group. In 1980, at age 49, Gorbachev became the youngest full member of the Politburo. In 1985 he became general secretary—in effect, the leader of the Soviet Union. He initiated policies of glasnost, encouraging open discussion of political and social problems, and perestroika, the structural economic and political reforms aimed at fixing them. He withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, he signed the arms control INF Treaty with the U.S., and in March 1990 Gorbachev was elected to the newly created post of president of the U.S.S.R. Communist regimes in Soviet-bloc countries dissolved, and the Iron Curtain, which had isolated eastern Europe from noncommunist countries after World War II, was lifted. Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize for his achievements in international relations, but in the Soviet Union his unsuccessful economic policies led to deep public disappointment. Communist hard-liners staged a three-day coup attempt in April 1991, which failed. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned from the presidency. The Soviet Union ceased to exist that same day. Mikhail Gorbachev died on August 30, 2022 at 91 years old. Despite criticism from both conservatives and liberals, the fundamental changes Gorbachev brought to world politics are undeniable.