Global statesman: Mikhail Gorbachev on globalization

Abstract

Executive Overview Mikhail Gorbachev has devoted many decades of his career to global issues. As president of the Soviet Union from 1988 to 1991 and general secretary of the Communist party from 1985 to 1991, he initiated the country's policies of perestroika. or economic and social restructuring, and glasnost, or openness and greater freedom of expression for all citizens. These reforms triggered dramatic changes both within his own country and throughout the world. Ultimately, these events led to the break-up of the country, the end of Communist rule in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and the beginning of a dramatic new era of global political and economic relations. In 1990, President Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his key role in helping to end the Cold War with the West that had dominated world politics for decades. President Gorbachev currently spends much of his time traveling around the world, on behalf of several organizations he founded, to address issues of c...