ABSTRACT
Just before the demise of the Soviet regime a series of reform ideas was presented in the ‘500 days programme’, elaborated during 1990 by a group of liberal economists in Michael Gorbachev’s administration. The programme made explicit the close connection between economic reform, democratisation and decentralisation of power, arguing that
Economic reform is impossible to implement with orders from the Centre. . . . People no longer want to tolerate a situation in which key decisions that shape their lives are made without participation. The central role in the transformation is given to the governments of the republics and to local authorities.
