I was always under the impression that Gorbachev was a naïve optimist who tried to reform the USSR too rapidly, but failed. So how exactly did he screw up and how could the USSR have been saved?
I was always under the impression that Gorbachev was a naïve optimist who tried to reform the USSR too rapidly, but failed. So how exactly did he screw up and how could the USSR have been saved?
Too many reforms all at once.
If you want to implement market reforms, perestroika style, then you need to have an iron grip on political power.
If you want to implement media and political reform, glastnost style, then you need to have a stable economy.
Upend both at once and it becomes a feeding frenzy of corruption and foreign influence.