how did perestroika and glasnost lead to the collapse of the soviet union?

Question

i have to do this presentation about this and dunno where to start

if u know any good sites, that would be helpful

thanks

tankfreak:
that wasnt very helpful... i just want information or something to get me started... sheesh if it bothers u that much just go answer something else!

tankfreak:
one more thing...
i live in qatar and i dont pay taxes!! HA!

Answer 1

Wikipedia is realy good

For perestroika
By 1990 the government had virtually lost control over economic conditions. Government spending increased sharply as an increasing number of unprofitable enterprises required state support and consumer price subsidies continued. Tax revenues declined because revenues from the sales of vodka plummeted during the anti-alcohol campaign and because republic and local governments withheld tax revenues from the central government under the growing spirit of regional autonomy. The elimination of central control over production decisions, especially in the consumer goods sector, led to the breakdown in traditional supplier-producer relationships without contributing to the formation of new ones. Thus, instead of streamlining the system, Gorbachev's decentralization caused new production bottlenecks.
Under these conditions, the general quality of life for the Soviet people deteriorated. The public traditionally faced shortages of durable goods, but under Gorbachev, food, clothes, and other basic necessities were in short supply. Fueled by the liberalized atmosphere of Gorbachev's glasnost and by the general improvement in information access in the late 1980s, public dissatisfaction with economic conditions was much more overt than ever before in the Soviet period. The foreign-trade sector of the Soviet economy also showed signs of deterioration. The total Soviet hard-currency debt increased appreciably, and the Soviet Union, which had established an impeccable record for debt repayment in earlier decades, had accumulated sizable arrears by 1990. It did free up the arts and social sciences in the region and enabled formerly banned literature and films to be reconstructed to a degree, with filmmakers like Sergei Parajanov now out of prison.

And for glasnost
Relaxation of censorship resulted in the Communist Party losing its grip on the media. Before long, much to the embarrassment of the authorities, the media began to expose severe social and economic problems which the Soviet government had long denied and covered up. Long-denied problems such as poor housing, food shortages, alcoholism, widespread pollution, creeping mortality rates and the second-rate position of women were now receiving increased attention. Moreover, under glasnost, the people were able to learn significantly more about the horrors committed by the government when Joseph Stalin was in power
Political openness continued to produce unintended consequences. In elections to the regional assemblies of the Soviet Union's constituent republics, nationalists swept the board. As Gorbachev had weakened the system of internal political repression, the ability of the USSR's central Moscow government to impose its will on the USSR's constituent republics had been largely undermined. During the 1980s calls for greater independence from Moscow's rule grew louder

Best of Luck with your paper

Answer 2

There were a few direct factors. First, by 1985, most of the "old guard" have died. Those are the leaders that grew up during the Russian revolution. Up came a new breed of leaders, more open to change. Basically, these guys have seen the light, the writing on the wall. Gorbachev is probably more responsible for ending the USSR than anyone. He pushed for economic and political reforms ("glastnost", or "openness") that slowly erodes the old communist values. When your leader no longer believes in the system, you're history, comrades. Then there was Afghanistan, a total disaster for Soviet arms from which they never recovered as a nation. Seeing the mighty Soviet army being handily defeated by ragged guerillas, other regions formerly living under the shadow of the USSR also began to rise up. Pretty soon, the USSR was a basket case. Of course, there has never been a chance that Communism could have competed with capitalists. The Communists were mismanaging just about everything, except the arms race. They were bankrupting themselves trying to keep up with us. Still, without the events that I mentioned above, Communist Russia probably would have lasted a bit longer. In other words, handled properly, a communist country can be somewhat viable, but probably for no more than a few generations. For example, China is still going strong, for now. But the time will come when they too will abandon Communism. Basically, that time will be when we will have finished turning them into capitalists like us, which is happening right now, slowly, but surely. And who says that we don't have a cohesive foreign policy?

Answer 3

type perestroika and glasnost in at google lots of info

Answer 4

it's really simple. It was all a dog and pony show

Answer 5

so you want us to do your taxes to??