Perestroika

Perestroika, which means "restructuring", was a new policy introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union to allow the people to own small businesses. Gorbachev tried to transform the stagnant, inefficient state capitalist command economy, which had been inaugurated by Stalin's mass industrialisation policies, into a decentralized, market-oriented economy based on free market capitalism. Under perestroika, open elections were held, and industrial managers were granted greater autonomy. It also contributed to the complete collapse of the Soviet Union. See also glasnost, its social and cultural counterpart.