Abstract

Gorbachev’s perestroika launched a liberal experiment in the Soviet Union. His attempt to liberalize the political system in order to reinvigorate the USSR unleashed forces that eventually led to its disintegration. Although his initial idea was to reform the sluggish economy and to end the arms race, his reform transformed the entire political system. “New Thinking” was not a comprehensive plan, but rather a proto-liberal pluralist program, a liberalization from above. The paradox was that it was a liberal vision in an illiberal society. Through glasnost and democratization, New Thinking brought substantial outcomes. By 1990, the Cold War was over, elections were held, and the USSR began to give way to a social-democratic polity. The Russian people supported the liberalization wholeheartedly and passionately. However, when, in the 1990s, the new Russian government launched radical economic liberalization, the population grew disillusioned with the reform and gradually retreated to more traditional conservative values.