Reagan

 Reagan Doctrine 1985

o Rollback not “containment”
o Covert means and proxy wars to weaken the Soviets
o SDI- utilize both ground based systems and space based satellites to neutralize any
incoming missile directed at US
 Strategic Superiority/leverage

Internal Weaknesses
Structural Weaknesses

o Political
 Apathy
 Liberal and non oppressive led to increased resistance and unsupportive
stance
o Economic
 Unrealistic targets > inefficiency
 No incentive
 Lack innovation > mass production and increase QTY
 Industrial focus
 Agricultural sector suffered, had to import US grain
 Shortage of finished products >Decline in industrial output
 Welfare of people overlooked – disillusionment

Gobaschev’s Policies
Perestroika

 Economic restructuring
o Aim: address existing inefficiencies of command economy model
 Allowed more independent decision making + private ownerships
 Nurture an environment of individual initiative (Liberalization)
 Gear towards profit makings
o Impact:
 Govt controls still present > not carried out to full extent
 No increase in overall o/p > industries focused on producing more expensive
gds
 Caused even worst shortage of necessities
 No economic growth and increase in unemployment
Glasnost (openness)

 Aim: rectify the apathy in soviet society

o Opened public participation in decision making process ( feedback + criticism of
govt policy)
o Relaxed censorship
 Impact:
o pent-up resentment unleashed
o awakened nationalist movements among various republics of SU
 dissolution of SU

Democratization

 introduced elections through Congress of People’s Deputies

 limited office term
 Decentralization
o Impact: radical reformers (Boris Yeltsin)
o Opposition gained power
o Separation of eastern European bloc

Washington Summit (December 1987)

 INF treaty: removal of all intermediate and shorter range missiles from Europe

Sinatra Doctrine, 1989

 Freedom of people to choose their system of governance

Implosion of the USSR

 Resulted from Gob’s reforms (glasnost and democratization)

 Controls put in place by the central govt. in Moscow began to weaken

Reagan’s decision to play down arms race in mid 1980s was very much influenced by Gob’s
New Thinking Approach.