ABSTRACT
The liberal position was naturally criticized by the American right, too wary of the Soviet Union to countenance active support of Mikhail Gorbachev. But the proposed program of support for Gorbachev's reforms had a more fundamental problem: the liberals' definition of perestroika was quite vague. Originally perestroika had been part of a trio of concepts Gorbachev introduced—along with demokratizatsiia and glasnost—and referred fairly specifically to economic reform. The problem many American analysts had—and have—in understanding Gorbachev's strategy is that they misread his basic political problem. Gorbachev was aware of the eventual danger of a backlash as people felt the painful effects of radical reform. Gorbachev had good reason to believe that the Soviet Union was ripe for dramatic political change. Gorbachev recognized that the transformation of Soviet society had increased the risk of radical popular rebellion relative to the other potential threats to his power.
