When Mikhail Gorbachev stepped up to party leadership in 1985 in the Soviet Union, he brought with him a three-pronged policy for getting the country back on its feet. This policy involved perestroika (economic restructuring), glasnost (openness), and "new thinking" (Wallander, 2002, p. 117). The economic restructuring consisted of a series of reforms that were intended to improve efficiency and realign administrative structures without making significant changes in the economy, which was run by the state (Wallander, 2002, p. 117). The measures were not effective, being only "half-measures at best," and in the end they failed, adding to the decline of the economy (Wallander, 2002, p. 117). The openness was supposed to "erode the influence of the state and Communist Party interests that were powerful obstacles to economic reform" (Wallander, 2002, p. 117). Although this political reform was more successful than the economic reform had been, it also caused opposing forces to arise that "ultimately broke Gorbachev's grip on power" (Wallander, 2002, p. 117). The "new thinking" was the one resounding success of the three. According to Wallander (2002, p. 117), it "play[ed] a role in ending the Cold War, uniting Germany, and earning Gorbachev a place in history and greater popularity in the world than at home." Unfortunately, however, Gorbachev's three-pronged approach also prompted NATO's military action against Serbia and in Kosovo, which caused much suffering there (Wallander, 2002, p. 124).
Wallander, C.A. (2002). Lost and Found: Gorbachev's "New Thinking." The Washington Quarterly, 25(1), (Winter), 117-129. Retrieved on December 10, 2009 from: http://www.thewashingtonquarterly.com/02winter/wallander.pdf
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