glasnost

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Russian гла́сность (glásnostʹ)bor. English glasnost Borrowed from Russian гла́сность (glásnostʹ, “openness”).

1. 1980s and early 1990s policy of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev to allow more government transparency; often paired with perestroika

   “Gorbachev would introduce glasnost (openness and freedom) and perestroika (economic restructuring) to Russia under his tenure, ultimately freeing thousands of political prisoners and dissidents and trying to address the shortages in food and goods that had become the hallmarks of the failing Soviet economy.”

   “[Gorbachev] did not champion perestroika and glasnost alone; much of the nomenklatura had decided that the Soviet economic and social model was dysfunctional, corrupt and endemically inefficient and had to change.”