Word: perestroikas
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Such piecemeal "reform" has become the hallmark of Gorbachev's perestroika. In almost every sphere he has failed to be decisive or consistent in implementing reform plans. He has been unwilling to move fully into a free- market economy, preferring to tinker with the centralized planning machinery in hopes of making it more efficient. He has been willing to liberalize the political life of the country but not to allow any of its separatists to break away. He has alienated not only the separatists but also the traditionalists, who accuse him of "betrayal" for failing to completely carry through...
...Soviet Union is a superpower in military might only. Perestroika has failed to resurrect a moribund economy. The USSR has lost its "security buffer" of Communist puppets in Eastern Europe. And now the Soviet Union itself is threatened by internal collapse. Glasnost has unleashed a torrent of independence movements...
Gorbachev, who is more dependent on Western aid than ever now that perestroika has broken down, must feel the need to reassure the West. In one offering, he appointed Alexander Bessmertnykh, a smooth professional diplomat serving as ambassador to the U.S. since last May, to succeed Shevardnadze as Foreign Minister. Bessmertnykh is considered a liberal but not one with great political influence in the Kremlin. "He'll be a soothing hand to hold," said a U.S. official, "but he probably won't have much authority." The new minister quickly stressed the continuity of Moscow's policy: "It will be preserved...
...support of the country's liberals by backing away from the radical 500-day economic-reform plan put forward by his former adviser Stanislav Shatalin. It became obvious that he was relying on the security apparatus to enforce Moscow's will and was handing over the future of perestroika to the party and its military-industrial complex. While those power centers are still strong, they are also the most interested in preserving the status quo and the least receptive to reform...
Though Gorbachev has proved wondrously skilled at skipping between right and left in the past, it is no longer certain that the architect of perestroika could turn back now if he wanted to. Each step on the road to coercion and dictatorship takes him farther from former allies who might offer him a way back to reform. He might still harbor a vision of a peaceful, democratized Soviet Union. But he has not been able to find either the determination or the right time to bestow true freedom of choice on his country and all its people...