Mikhail Gorbachev was a very active and influential Russian politician and leader during the cold war, crucial to ending it. He was also instrumental in creating a policy that opposed the use of nuclear weapons in conflicts, which led to receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. Although the success of his government is a controversial subject, this essay seeks to digress about his achievements to make Russia reach the great economic potentials that were being established at the time and its effort to end the cold war and the USSR.
During the 1980s, the political and economic divergence that governed the cold war was even more evident. The USA with its capitalist policy and the European Union was undergoing great expansion and economic success, in addition to being a strong influence for other countries, which wish to have the same level of economic and social success. At that time, economic freedom and international agreements were very attractive and of great value to capitalist countries. On the other hand, the Soviet economy was in decline with an industry extremely outdated and unable to keep up with the capitalist advance. For this reason, Gorbachev is planning reforms that will open the Soviet Union to the world, in addition to attracting the sympathy of countries, with the aim of establishing trade and economic agreements. For this he initiated a series of internal and external reforms, the first of which was a meeting with American President Ronald Reagan, where they would seal the agreement not to use nuclear weapons to resolve disputes between the two countries, which stimulated the end of the cold War.
Regarding internal reforms, he focused on freedom and the creation of a government of former Soviet republics along the lines of the British Commonwealth. To this end, he allowed political amnesty on Russian territory, the end of the Gulags, the end of censorship of the press and artists, the end of the one-party system and the creation of an electoral system where the citizens of the country were free to vote. in their leaders. The changes had a very positive social outcome, but it was not able to leverage the Russian economy. In addition, these reforms departed from what was advocated by the communist economy, which caused Gorbachev to accumulate opponents causing him to suffer a coup d'état and almost start a civil war.
If it does not achieve its main objective of improving the economy and making Russia a great economic power, we cannot ignore Gorbachev's efforts to end the threat of nuclear war, being the leader who took the first step towards establishing peace between the military powers. In addition, he was important to the freedom of the Russian people, who found themselves bound by a limiting and authoritarian government.
