How did the policies of perestroika and glasnost contribute to the fall of the USSR?
Let me try to explain. Perestroika and Glasnost failed because by the time they were introduced the old Soviet Economy was broken beyond repair. Gorbachev attempted to reform the Communist system, but not replace it. In effect, this was like attempting a blood transfusion on a terminal cancer patient. It was too little too late. The idea of restructuring and openness appealed to the Russian Peoples, however. These things caused their expectations to soar. But as the reforms failed to produce concrete results, these expectations were dashed, and they hastened the end of the Soviet Union. Contrary to popular belief, most revolutions do not occur when people are the most oppressed; they occur when most people are more hopeful and then experience a sharp setback which destroys their hopefulness. This was the case in the Soviet Union. The system was irretrievably broken, Gorbachev promised reforms that made people hopeful; and the reforms failed, which produced the backlash that ended the S
