Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) — Magnificent Achievements, Monumental Failures
Forty years ago, in the late summer of 1982, the Soviet Union was under the rule of Leonid Brezhnev, who had been in power since October 1964. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) exercised stifling control of the country and routinely violated basic human rights and freedoms. The USSR was largely closed off from the rest of the world, and the CPSU prevented Soviet citizens from traveling abroad. The Soviet press was...
A peaceful yet radical social transformer: Mikhail Gorbachev leaves a blazing legacy
Mikhail Gorbachev was the most significant political leader globally of the second half of the 20th century and one of the greatest reformers in Russian history. By the time he resigned as president of the USSR during its final throes, he had played the decisive role in making Russia a freer country than it had ever been. The new tolerance and liberties at home, together with the transformation of Soviet foreign policy, emboldened the...
