| The purpose of this dissertation is to illustrate why the Soviet Union would voluntarily withdraw its most important levers of influence in Eastern Europe, a region it twice invaded, during the Cold War in order to maintain bloc cohesion. The new Soviet leader in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, along with his advisors collectively deemed it necessary to institute major reforms in the Soviet communist system. The stagnation of the economy of the world socialist system convinced Gorbachev that reforms were imperative domestically and internationally. His foreign policy, taking into account the domestic situation in Eastern Europe, dropped the communist idea of class struggle and sought to achieve accommodation with the West on numerous issues. When it became clear to the countries of the Warsaw Pact that Gorbachev believed in letting them choose their own socio-political system, they quickly took advantage of this and overthrew communist regimes throughout the region in 1989. |
