Title: Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics, 1991
Headings: Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics, 1991
Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics, 1991
Content: At the same time, he applied his " new thinking " to Soviet foreign policy, hoping to end the Cold War with the United States and the strains the conflict had placed on the economy. Although Gorbachev implemented extensive economic reforms and introduced limited democratic elections, none of his measures were successful in arresting economic decline, and he was too committed to the idea of socialism to introduce a true free market system. As Gorbachev struggled to find solutions to fight stagnation, in the spring of 1990, Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in a popular election. Yeltsin was a threat to Gorbachev's centralized power for several reasons. As leader of the largest republic in the USSR, his opinions would have a great deal of sway. Because he, unlike Gorbachev, moved to make his post democratically elected and then won the open elections, his leadership held more legitimacy in the minds of the people. Yeltsin also began to make proposals to detach his republic from the larger Soviet system, such as suggesting that Russia be granted economic autonomy, and he made the personal decision to leave the Communist Party. Over the course of the summer of 1990, all fifteen republics of the former Soviet Union followed Russia's lead, and one by one they declared themselves to be sovereign states. Although the U.S. Government hoped for continued political stability under Gorbachev, it also sought the emergence of a free market economy in Eastern Europe. The latter was not acceptable to Gorbachev, and he faced increasing challenges from the free market-oriented Boris Yeltsin.