ABSTRACT
Michail Gorbachev instituted glasnost because he felt that he needed to subject the bureaucracy of the USSR to some means of political control. He saw this as the only way to promote social initiatives and creativity in his country. Gorbachev's motivation seems to have been patriotism. Ethnic strifes and nationalism have existed in the USSR and in Eastern European countries for a long period of time. Fierce nationalism and xenophobia have long been part of Eastern Europe's political culture. Russian Nationalism comes in different shapes and forms. Some nationalists feel threatened that the Russian nation will lose its hegemony in the Soviet empire. Some of the most dangerous core of fierce Russian nationalism is incorporated in an embryonic political party called Pamyat. Gorbachev has accepted the need for Europe to be recreated, so that he can recreate the Soviet role in Europe.
