ABSTRACT
In previous chapters I have outlined some of the constraints on the political leadership. I have shown how systemic changes in social structure led to new demands, and described the strains in the traditional state socialist forms of legitimation and organization of the economy, and outlined the reform strategies advocated and taken in various countries. I demonstrated how these strategies were perceived by the Soviet bloc's opponents abroad. Many factors precipitated the policies adopted by the Gorbachev leadership which dismantled the USSR. In this chapter, I summarize the impact of the various factors, both internal and external to the regime, and review the sequence of events. Finally, I consider what alternative policies were open to the leadership of the USSR and could have prevented its disintegration as a federal state as well as preserving the social formation of state socialism.
